The Akatsuki warrior and the Leaf Village warrior
by Skye410
Summary: Two young kunoichi leading different lives meet up, one is from Konoha, and the other is from the Akatsuki, but what secret do they both share that they never knew? They both had village that was destroyed by a tiger demon, could they possibly be kin?
1. Chapter 1

"Haha, watch them run like mice!"

People of the village were running around, screaming as nine people dressed in black cloaks with a red symbol all over it were chasing them and attacking them.

"Hey, kid! Come down and join us!" one of them called up to where an orange-haired guy that looked to be 17 or 18 and a black-haired girl that looked to be about 13 were.

The young girl looked at the orange-haired guy with a pleading expression. When he nodded, the girl jumped off the rooftop. She ran over to one of her comrades that had an orange-brown mask over his face and one hole in it so he could see. She pulled out a kunai from the small pocket on her right thigh.

"Careful not to kill them all," the orange-haired guy called. "We want at least half of them to survive so they can cower in fear, waiting tensely for our return."

The girl smiled and spotted one man hiding behind a barrel. She walked over to him and picked up the barrel with her hands. "Hello little villager," she grinned.

The villager gripped something and the girl didn't have time to move when he stood up and stabbed her in the stomach with a knife. She dropped the barrel and stood there, frozen.

The villager was suddenly cut from his shoulder down to his waist and killed by a sword.

The girl looked to the corner of her eye and saw one of her comrades that had long black hair in a ponytail, he gripped his sword. "Bastard," he cursed to the dead villager.

The girl sighed and started to fall. The guy noticed and grabbed her. He put his sword away and picked her up in his arms, jumping to the rooftop where the orange-haired guy stood.

"Get her out of here, Itachi," the orange-haired guy said.

Itachi nodded. "We'll wait for you at the Waterfall Cave."

The guy nodded and Itachi ran off with the girl in his arms.

"Thanks, Itachi," the girl murmured and blood dripped from her mouth. "I didn't think my first village attack would end that way."

"Don't worry about it," Itachi smiled. "You just gotta be more careful, Kaya."

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"Get back here you five!!!!!"

A girl with black hair and blue streaks jumped out a window and onto the grass. Following her was a boy wearing a gray jacket with fur on the hood and a puppy in his shirt, a blond-haired boy that looked like he had whiskers, a boy with brownish black hair in a high ponytail and a boy with brown hair holding a bag of potato chips.

The girl cracked up laughing as their Academy teacher stood at the window, yelling at them.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," the girl called. "But we gotta run!"

The girl led the four boys away from the building and to the back of the Academy. They sat below a tree and laughed. The girl fell on her back. "Iruka-sensei looked so mad this time. Hahahaha!!!!!"

"What if he tells the Hokage?" the kid eating potato chips asked.

"Don't worry Choji," the guy with the ponytail assured him.

"If you say so, Shikamaru," Choji sighed.

"He's not even gonna catch us," the girl sighed and closed her eyes, putting her hands behind her head. She heard her friends get up and run off.

She sat up and watched them running away.

"Oh yeah, Katana? Never gonna catch you, eh?"

Katana gulped and got up to run after her friends but Iruka grabbed her shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere but back to the classroom," Iruka growled.

"Oh really?"

Katana disappeared and became a log. Iruka looked up and saw Katana in the tree. She jumped down, poked her tongue at Iruka and bolted off after her friends.

Iruka sighed and ran after them. "Get back here!!!"

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"Kaya, are you alright?"

Kaya opened her eyes and sat up, blinking at her comrades. "Where are we?"

"We back in the Waterfall Cave," Itachi said.

Kaya looked around and sighed. "Aw man! I really wanted my first village attack to be better than that!"

"Haha, don't worry about it, kid," the guy with the mask laughed and put a hand on her head. "You're only 13. You'll get better."

"Tobi, you're not fighting anyone so why don't you take your mask off?" Kaya asked.

Tobi sighed and took the mask off of his face. He had jet-black hair just like Kaya and his face was pale, but his left eye was covered by a patch and his other eye was red with three tiny symbols that looked like half of the Yin Yang sign. Itachi had the same eyes.

She smiled. "You look better without the mask."

"That's because the mask scares you," said a guy with long blond hair in a high ponytail and a bit of hair covering his left eye. His left eye was like a robot's eye.

"Shut up, Deidara! It does not scare me!" Kaya growled.

"Does to," Deidara teased.

"Does not!" Kaya poked her tongue out at him.

"It does to and you know it-"

Kaya stood up and tackled Deidara to the ground. She sat on his stomach. "It does not," she said in a kid's voice.

"Okay, okay. You win," Deidara said. "Now let me up."

Kaya grinned and jumped up, leaving Deidara to help himself up.

"Thanks for the help," Deidara said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Kaya smiled.

The others laughed.

"Kaya, you're such a child!" the guy with the orange hair said.

Kaya disappeared and reappeared on his back, her arms around his neck. "I know. Can I go run around outside?"

He sighed.

"Please, Pain!" Kaya said, giving him the puppy dog eyes and puppy pout.

He laughed. "Okay."

Kaya smiled and jumped off him, walking towards the cave entrance.

"But someone goes with you," Pain finished.

Kaya stopped and sighed. "I knew he was going to say that," she murmured to herself. She turned around. "Who?"

Pain looked at his comrades. "Zetsu?"

A guy with black on the right side of his face and white on the other side and giant plant jaws over his head from his neck shrugged.

Kaya blinked. "Aw man! He's too strict!"

Pain rolled his eyes. "Fine. How about Kakuzu?"

"No," Kaya complained. "Either Deidara or Sasori."

"I have to go out on lookout duty," Sasori said. "Sorry, kid."

"Okay," Kaya said. "Then Deidara."

Deidara shrugged. "Alright."

Pain smiled. "Did you choose either of them because you can run off on them?"

Kaya looked at him innocently. "No."

"She won't run off on me," Deidara said. "I could train her a little more so she could use up her energy if you want me to, Pain."

Pain nodded. "Thank you, Deidara."

Kaya crossed her arms stubbornly. "Stupid training!" she mumbled.

"Come on, Kaya," Deidara said and put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her out of the cave. Once she was out of the cave, she stopped. "Deidara?"

Deidara took his hands off of her shoulders. "Yeah?"

"How fast are you?"

"Pretty fast. Why?"

"Because you need to be better than 'pretty fast' to catch me," Kaya grinned and bolted off.

"Damn it," Deidara sighed. "Stupid super speed inheritance." He used his Chakra to make a giant clay bird and he jumped on its back. It flew into the air and went after Kaya.

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"Okay, Katana. It's your turn for the exam."

Katana jumped up and walked out of the classroom to the one next door. She walked in and saw Iruka and Mezuki.

"Go to the middle of the room please," Iruka said. "Then perform the Clone Jutsu when you're ready."

Katana strolled to the middle to the room. She made hand-signs.

"...Katana those aren't the hand-signs for the Clone Jutsu-"

"Invisibility Jutsu!"

Katana disappeared and Iruka and Mezuki looked around the room.

"Katana, that wasn't what you were supposed to do!" Iruka sighed. "Now cut it out and do the right Jutsu!"

"Aw.. but....."

Iruka and Mezuki looked behind them and saw Katana smiling at them.

"Just do the correct Jutsu," Iruka sighed.

Katana grumbled and walked to the middle of the room again. She made one hand-sign. "Clone Jutsu!"

Smoke rose up and when it cleared, there was a second Katana. A clone.

Iruka and Mezuki nodded. "You pass."

Katana walked over to the table and she was given a bandanna. A blue material with a small bit of metal and the village symbol on it.

She put it to her forehead and tied it up behind her hair. She walked out of the room and opened the door of her classroom. Everyone waited until she jumped in. "I passed! WOO HOO!!!"

Everybody laughed and Katana sat back down next to her friend Kiba and patted his puppy Akamaru.

"Congratulations," Kiba said to Katana. Katana nodded to him with a smile.

Suddenly, the Hokage came in the room. "Katana."

Katana shrank back in her seat until her head was just peering over the desk in front of her.

The Hokage looked at her. "Katana," he said again.

"Yes?" Katana replied. "Whatever it was, it wasn't me!"

"Oh really?" he cocked an eyebrow at her. "Then who else would be as careless as to paint the Hokage faces carved out in the cliff?"

Katana exchanged a glance with Naruto. Yesterday, she and him had ditched the Academy, run away from the ninja's, 'borrowed' some paint and decorated the Hokage faces with their artistic talents. The blond-haired kid shrunk back in his seat.

"So it was the both of you?" the Hokage growled.

"No," Katana and Naruto said.

"You two will be cleaning it all off by sunset!"

Katana looked at Naruto and with one small nod from her, they got up and ran towards the window.

"No we won't!"

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"This sucks," Katana grumbled.

"Well you're the one that made us go down the dead-end alley," Naruto said.

Katana sighed. "It wasn't my fault." She grabbed a sponge and started cleaning the paint off of the Hokage faces.

"Well then next time I guess we should do something that won't get us into this much trouble," Naruto replied. "The sun will set in one hour and I'm hungry!"

"Well maybe if the two of you finish quickly, I'll take you both out for some Ramen," Iruka said and Katana looked up at him, sitting on the head of the Fourth Hokage.

"Really?!?!?!" Katana and Naruto exclaimed.

Iruka nodded. "But you have to be quick with the cleaning."

"Alright!" Katana said. "I'll have this done in no time!"

Iruka watched as Katana made a hand-sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

After the sudden smoke disappeared, there was 15 more Katana's cleaning the Hokage faces.

"Ramen here I come!!!" Katana said, she loved Ramen.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaya looked over her shoulder, no sign of Deidara.

"Haha, he can't match my speed!" she laughed. "Good thing I got something decent from my old Clan. Besides the Kekkei Genkai. He'll never catch me!"

"Oh yeah?" Kaya was suddenly lifted a short distance into the air by the back of her shirt and she stopped running. "But I can."

"Hi, Hidan," Kaya grumbled. _The only Akatsuki member that can catch me and they __had_ _to send him, didn't they!?_

"Sorry, Kaya," Hidan smiled and she looked over her shoulder at him, giving him a death glare. "But you always run off on either Sasori and Deidara, you never run off on me."

"I run off on them because it annoys the hell out of them," Kaya grinned, but then growled. "But even if I try to run off on you, you'll always catch me."

"So you finally get the message," Hidan said and put her down.

"Nope," Kaya said and tried running off.

Hidan quickly grabbed her by the back of the shirt again and sighed.

"Damn it," Kaya mumbled.

"Come on, I told Deidara I would watch you, so I'll be the one to train you today," Hidan said and let her go.

"Fine," Kaya sighed and followed him towards the woods. "You suck, Hidan."

They reached a small clearing in the trees and Hidan turned to look at her. "Alright. Today, you're gonna have to fight me."

"That's impossible!!!" Kaya complained. "I've tried fighting you before and you know I can't win!!"

"Try," Hidan said.

"I have tried," Kaya mumbled.

Hidan rolled his eyes. "Try again."

"Fine," Kaya sighed and jumped off into the trees.

Hidan leaned his back against a tree, listening to Kaya's footsteps getting quieter and quieter as she ran off. "I guess I have to go after her again," he smiled. "She really doesn't know when to give up."

Kaya watched as Hidan ran straight under her and through the trees. She smiled and jumped down from her tree branch and ran the other way. _Here's my training for you, Hidan_, she thought. _Try and catch someone when you're heading the wrong way. You may be as fast as me, but I can still outsmart you. Idiot_!

Kaya ran out of the woods and towards a large lake surrounded by a small amount of trees. She ran straight through them but skidded to a stop behind someone. He turned around and looked at the 13 year old that was standing right in front of him with a scared expression.

"Uh... Hiya, Pain," Kaya smiled innocently. "I thought you'd be at the Waterfall Cave.... hehe... oh crap," she murmured the last part to herself.

"Shouldn't you be with Deidara, training?" Pain growled. He did have a friendly side, but when Kaya got on his bad side, she hated it.

"Yeah, but Hidan took over," Kaya said.

"And where's Hidan?"

"Uh..........."

Pain rolled his eyes. "Kaya, if you want to be a successful, powerful ninja, then you have to start training!!!!!"

Kaya looked at the ground. "Sorry."

"Kaya-"

Kaya turned and saw Hidan, he looked nervous when he saw Pain.

"Hidan, if you're supposed to be watching her then you shouldn't let her run away," Pain growled. "You're as fast as her so she couldn't get away form you that easily."

"Sorry, Pain," Hidan said. "She must have tricked me."

Pain looked down to look at Kaya but she wasn't there.

"It's called a good old tree branch."

Pain and Hidan looked up to see Kaya waving at them. Then she took off through the trees.

"Aw man!" Hidan sighed.

"DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sasori came through the trees, holding Kaya by the back of the shirt.

"You suck, Sasori!" Kaya growled.

"Thank you, Sasori," Pain said and walked over to Kaya. "You need to start paying attention! So stop running away and start focusing!!!"

Kaya flinched, she hated when he was in a bad mood, because it was usually her fault.

She dropped her head. "I'm sorry, Pain."

"You say that, but then you'll just stuff around again!" Pain growled. "Do you know why we took you in after your Clan was destroyed?"

"Because you saw strength in me and you thought I would be a great aspect to the Akatsuki," Kaya recited. "You've said it a thousand times!"

"Then act like you've paid attention once or twice!" Pain growled and grabbed her by the throat.

"Pain!?" Sasori exclaimed.

"I could have just left you to die after your Clan was destroyed! But because I saw power in your eyes when you tried to defend yourself, I decided to take you in. So is this how you're going to repay me? By acting like a happy two year old and playing around?"

Kaya grabbed his hand and tried to push it away from her neck, trying to get air, but he was too strong. He was a lot older and stronger than she was, she was only 13.

"Pain, I think you should let her go," Hidan said.

Pain looked into Kaya's blue eyes and saw that she was scared and desperate to breathe. He watched her for a few more seconds before letting her go. She fell to her knees, one hand on the ground and the other holding her neck, breathing hard. She looked up at him and his eyes showed his anger. She got up on wobbly legs and walked over to Hidan. "Are you gonna train me or not?"

"I think you should take a break," Pain sighed.

Kaya looked over her shoulder at him. "You're the one who wants me to be strong and now you're saying I need to rest just because I'm exhausted!?"

Hidan and Sasori flinched, no one dared talk like that to Pain when he was in a bad mood. Pain looked at her, his eyes glittering with anger. Kaya glared back at him, not caring what trouble she'd get into.

She turned back to Hidan. "Come on, you need to train me." She grabbed his arm and dragged him away before Pain could growl at her.

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"Katana, Naruto, why would you do that to the Hokage faces?"

Katana and Naruto looked at Iruka.

"Because we wanted them to look better," Katana said.

"Do you even know who they are?" Iruka asked.

"Of course," Katana said.

"Especially the Fourth Hokage," Naruto said. "Giving up his own life to kill the Nine-Tail Fox and save the village."

"Then why?"

"Because I'm going to be greater than any of them," Naruto said and Katana smiled. "Me, Naruto. A ninja legend. Then everyone will stop disrespecting me and look up to me!"

Katana nodded and stood up. "I'll leave you two to talk."

Iruka looked at her and she walked off, if she was quick, she could get out into the forest without being spotted.

She ran through the village and reached the south gates, there were no guards there at that moment so she ran out into the forest.

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Kaya crept passed the other members of the Akatsuki, they were all asleep, leaning their backs against the cave wall.

She took her cloak off and put it on the ground where she had been resting after training with Hidan. She cringed when she felt the pain in her stomach again. She had fought with Hidan and she couldn't beat him. He had punched her in the gut, harder than he expected. She crept on silent feet to the entrance of the Waterfall Cave.

She stopped at the entrance, hearing footsteps behind her. She turned around and before she could yelp, her mouth was covered and her heart raced. She looked up at Deidara.

Deidara looked over his shoulder at the rest of the Akatsuki and lead Kaya out of the cave. Once they were outside he turned her around. "Where do you think you're planning on sneaking off to?"

"I want to go and train," Kaya said. "Because I was no use training with Hidan!"

Deidara sighed. "So you plan on training by yourself?!"

Kaya nodded. "If I can get more strength by myself then I can get more fighting ability from the rest of you."

Deidara blinked at her and nodded. "Okay, but I'm risking my neck for you."

Kaya nodded in return. "I'll be back before sunrise."

Deidara sighed. "Alright. But you better not be late because Pain will kill me."

"I'll be back don't worry," Kaya said and made hand-signs. "Bird Transformation Jutsu!"

Smoke rose up and Kaya turned into a small bird. She flew into the air and Deidara watched her disappear before going back into the cave.

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Katana ran through the forest, she liked putting distance between her and the village, because no one could hear her when she was using her Jutsu's and training by herself.

She stopped in a clearing and caught her breath.

She heard the chirping of a bird and saw one in a tree, its red and black feathers shining in the moonlight.

She walked towards the tree it was in. "What a beautiful bird."

"Why thank you."

Katana jumped and stared at the bird. "Did you just.. talk?"

"Oh yeah, my bad," the bird said and smoke rose up around it.

Katana blinked and the bird was gone. Replaced was a black-haired girl with a black shirt and brown pants. The girl smiled. "Hi."

"Were you that bird?" Katana asked.

The girl stayed up on her tree branch. "Yep. That was my Bird Transformation Jutsu. Who are you by the way?"

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking for someone else's name," Katana said, a little nervous.

"Oh, my apologize," the girl said and jumped to the ground, putting a hand out. "My name is Kaya."

"I'm Katana. Which village do you come from?"

"I don't come from any village," Kaya said. "What village do you come from?"

Katana smiled, adjusting the bandanna on her forehead. "The Leaf Village. But.. if you don't come from any village, where do you come from?"

"I used to live in a village," Kaya replied. "But it was destroyed. Since then I've been with some people that took me in. They're training me to become a great ninja."

"Who are they?"

"Sorry, I'm not allowed to say," Kaya smiled. "But they're extremely powerful ninja. S-ranked."

"Wow," Katana exclaimed. "What are you doing out here?"

"I'm training."

Katana stepped back. "Is any of those ninja's with you?"

"No, I came alone."

"Whew, I was a little scared then," Katana breathed.

"Why?" Kaya asked, tilting her head.

"Because you said they were powerful," Katana replied and thought to herself. _I have never known of a ninja training outside of a village_. "How did your village get destroyed?"

"A demon," Kaya looked at the ground.

"A _demon_!?!?!"

"Yes."

"What kind of demon?"

"A giant tiger with three long tails. Everybody died, but me and my sister were separated after she saved my life. I think she was killed to."

Katana's eyes widened.

"Are you okay?" Kaya asked, sounding more like herself. "You look...... I don't know."

Katana looked up at her and shook her head. "No, I'm okay."

Kaya smiled and nodded to her. "I have to go train now. I'll see you around maybe."

"Do you need help?" Katana asked suddenly when Kaya turned to leave. Kaya turned back around. "I mean, I could help you train if you wanted."

Kaya smiled. "That would be nice."

Katana and Kaya faced each other as if they were about to fight.

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Kaya looked up at the sky, she was breathing hard and her eyes widened. "Oh damn!"

"What's wrong?" Katana asked.

"The sun will rise very soon!" Kaya exclaimed. "I have to go!"

Katana nodded and watched Kaya make hand-signs.

"Bird Transformation Jutsu!" Kaya waited but nothing happened. "Oh no! I don't have enough Chakra!"

Kaya had trained all night with Katana and used up a lot of her Chakra.

"I guess that means you'll need to walk back to wherever you need to go," Katana said.

"I was supposed to be back by now," Kaya said. "I'll see you around. Bye!"

Katana watched Kaya bolt off before turning back to return to her village.

Kaya raced through the forest, running as fast as she could. _I hope my lightning speed can get me back in time_! She thought. _Because me and Deidara are dead if I don't get there before the sun rises_!

Kaya wished she'd hadn't flown so far out, she was exhausted but she had to force herself to keep going.

The sun appeared just over the horizon and Kaya knew she was nearly at the Waterfall Cave, but she wouldn't get there in time. She was toast!

"Kaya!"

Kaya looked up and saw Deidara on his giant clay bird. She stopped and he made his bird land beside her.

"You're really late," Deidara said.

"I know," Kaya murmured, gasping for air. She had run for half an hour straight to try and get back in time. "I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" Deidara asked. "Don't tell me you pushed yourself too far? Why didn't you fly back?"

"Not enough Chakra," Kaya breathed. "I ran for half an hour. Really tired......"

Kaya started to fall backwards, her body was too worn out to hold itself up any longer.

Deidara jumped off the bird and grabbed her in his arms. "Let's get you back."

He picked her up and got back on the bird, looking down at Kaya. She was breathing quickly to try and catch her breath, she looked like she had fallen asleep, her whole body was boiling hot and she had dirt all over her.

The bird flapped its wings and flew into the air towards the Waterfall Cave.

"Deidara! Where have you been? Where's Kaya-"

Deidara carried Kaya into the cave and the Akatsuki members were all awake.

"Uh...." Deidara murmured.

"Don't tell me she ran off again?" Pain growled.

"No."

Everyone looked at Kaya.

"I wanted Deidara to train me," she murmured, coughing a little. "I wanted to make it up to you because I was running away yesterday instead of training. I'm sorry if I caused more trouble, Pain."

Pain's eyes softened and he put a hand on her head. "It's okay, kid. But now you should rest. You can train tomorrow."

"No. I'll be okay to continue training by noon."

"Kaya, you don't need to push your body past its limits just to make it up to me," Pain said. "You didn't need to train during the night to make up for your behavior yesterday."

"But I wanted to," Kaya replied.

Pain shook his head. "Rest today. Train tomorrow."

"But...."

"Kaya, you need to rest, okay," Pain said, looking into her eyes with a seriously worried expression.

She looked into his orange eyes and nodded. "Okay. Thanks, Pain."

Pain smiled and nodded to Deidara. "Konan, let's go."

A blue-haired girl followed Pain out of the Waterfall Cave and the others left as well, leaving Deidara to look after Kaya.

He took her to the back of the cave. "Why did you lie to Pain?"

"Because I wanted to keep you out of trouble," Kaya replied.

Deidara smiled and ruffled her hair. "Thanks, kid. But how hard did you train last night?"

"Pretty hard," Kaya smiled, she didn't think she should tell anyone about the girl she met in the forest. After all, she came from a village, and Pain would probably want to attack it. "And I seriously did want to make it up to Pain for mucking around yesterday."

Deidara nodded. "Now get some rest. I think you need it."

Katana jumped down from the top of the south gates. She stayed in her crouching position for a few seconds, looking around. She finally stood up and started walking back to her home, not that she would have anyone waiting for her. She had lost her parents when her Clan was destroyed by the same demon that destroyed Kaya's village. She walked slowly as she remembered the night it happened....


	3. Chapter 3

_**8 years ago**_

"Katana. Katana! Wake up!"

Katana opened her eyes. "What is it, mother?"

"Go wake your sister up. Hurry!"

Katana got out of bed and her eyes were drawn to the window. A fair distance away, she saw a huge tiger with three lashing tails walking towards the village. She ran to her sisters room and shook her.

"Sister! Wake up! Wake up!"

Her sister rolled over and blinked her eyes open. "What is it, Katana. Trying to sleep." She closed her eyes again.

"Wake up!" Katana said, sounding scared. "You have to wake up!"

Her sister sighed and sat up. "Why? What's the problem?"

"There's this giant tiger thing with three tails and it has big red eyes and these really big claws and-"

"Katana, slow down," her sister yawned. "What's with this tiger thing?"

"It's coming to the village!" Katana cried. "And mother is really scared!"

"Okay, that's not good!" she said and jumped up.

Their mother rushed in. "Come on, children. We have to get out of here!"

Katana and her sister ran after their mother out of the house and they met with their father.

Katana's sister looked up at the tiger that was now just upon the village. People were running around, screaming, some ninja's of the village ran over to try and fight the tiger but they were knocked away like flies. "That's one huge cat," Katana's sister remarked.

"There's no time to admire it!" her father growled, glaring at her. Katana's sister and their father never really got along. He grasped a kunai in his hand. "I have to go."

Katana's mother nodded and looked at their children. "We both do." She gripped onto a kunai in one hand and twirled a shuriken on one finger on the other hand.

"Be careful," Katana heard her sister say. Her sister was older by five months and she was very strong and brave.

"Take care of your sister," their mother said.

"I will mother," she replied.

"Katana, you make sure that the two of you get out of this village," their father said. "Don't let your sister try and come back."

"Of course," Katana said, her voice shaky.

They watched their parents run towards the giant beast. Katana grabbed her sisters' arm and dragged her gaze away from the giant tiger. "Sister, we have to go."

Her sister pulled her to her and gave her a hug. "It's okay, Katana. It'll be okay."

Her sister let her go and they ran together through the village. But one problem, the giant tiger appeared in front of the only exit to the village, meaning no one could escape.

The tiger swung its massive paw and nearly all the villagers were thrown.

Katana saw her parents run passed her and they went for the tiger. All the villagers were dead in seconds flat, only the ninja's, Katana and her sister were alive.

Katana and her sister watched the ninja's attempting to fight the tiger. "Sister, what do we do?"

"I don't know, Katana. The only way out of the village is blocked," her sister replied.

Katana was shaking violently and holding onto her sisters' arm with fear. She felt her sister tense up when they saw their parents get thrown away by the tiger. Their mother landed beside them and Katana ran over to her, tears falling out of her eyes. Her sister just stood there, glaring at the tiger, fists clenched. She could hear Katana crying as their mother died, and she watched her father run back to the monster, he was the only ninja left.

The tiger threw its head down and before Katana's father could move, half of his body was bitten off. He was killed.

Katana looked at her sister, her sister was looking up at the tiger, and the tiger was looking back down at her.

It started walking towards her and she started walking towards it, blue Chakra starting to form in her hand.

"Sister, no-"

"It's okay, Katana," her sister replied. "I'll distract it. Meanwhile, you get out of here."

Katana watched her sister continue walking to the tiger, she was scared, she knew her sister wasn't strong enough to take it down, and neither was she. But she knew her sister would die trying to save her!

Suddenly, the blue ball of Chakra in her sisters' hand disappeared when the tigers' red eyes beamed into her sister and it opened its mouth, ready to bite her body in two.

The jaws came down and Katana's sister stood her ground.

Katana got up and ran in front of her sister, holding one arm up. "ARMATO SUMORATA!!!!!!!"

A blue-green-aqua ball of Chakra formed in Katana's hand and expanded to be so big that the blast sent her sister flying backwards. The tiger roared when the blast struck it and it fell to the ground.

Katana fell to one knee and the Chakra went away. She was breathing heavily and she watched the tiger slowly die.

When she was sure it was dead, she stood up and turned around smiling. "Did you see that sister-" She blinked, her sister was nowhere to be seen. "Sister? SISTER!!!!!!"

She looked around and listened, but there was no sight nor sound of her sister.

"Did I...... did I just kill my own sister?" she murmured to herself. "Oh, please no!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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She shook her head and tears ran down her face. Her sister was dead, and it was because of her! She turned and ran to the entrance to the village, passed the tiger and passed the village gates. The whole Kasuma Clan was destroyed, and she was the only survivor.

Katana shook her head and tears scattered everywhere. She head her scream echo in her head. But one thing was on her mind. Something about Kaya was strange, the way she talked about her village being destroyed, the same beast that did it, being separated from her sister. It sounded so much like what she went through. She felt sorry for Kaya, having to go through what she did. She felt even more sorry for Kaya for losing her sister after she saved her life. Katana knew what it was like to lose a sister. And she still blamed herself for her sisters' death.

She sighed and walked into her house. She went upstairs and fell onto her bed. It was 6:30, in half an hour she would need to get up and go to the Academy to get put on a squad.

She shrugged and closed her eyes, instantly falling asleep.

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"Katana. Katana get up already!"

Katana opened one eye and looked at her friend Shikamaru. "What?"

"We have to get to the Academy remember?" Shikamaru said. "You can't sleep all day."

Katana murmured a protest and closed her eye again, trying to fall back asleep.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Katana grumbled.

"Taking you to the Academy because you wouldn't get up," he answered and walked out into the village and over to the Academy with her on his shoulder. Katana tried falling asleep several times but he shrugged his shoulder to stop her from sleeping.

Shikamaru walked into the Academy and everyone blinked when he came into the classroom. Naruto laughed. He put Katana in her seat next to Kiba and went to sit in his place beside Ino.

Katana rested her head on the desk in front of her and Kiba looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"Sleepy," Katana replied and closed her eyes.

"How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Half an hour, this morning. When I got home."

"Where were you all night then?"

"In the forest, training before being put on a squad."

Kiba was about to say something else but Katana put a hand over his mouth. "Trying to sleep, be quiet," she mumbled.

"Katana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Katana shot right up, wide awake, blinking at Iruka. "Yes!?"

"Sleeping is for night time, not during the day," Iruka growled.

Katana nodded. "Sorry Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you all what squad you'll be put on."

Katana listened as the list was read out.

"Squad 7. Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno."

Naruto smiled. "YEAH!!"

Sakura dropped her head.

"And Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura smiled. "YEAH!!"

Naruto dropped his head.

Katana laughed.

"Squad 8. You will be a four man team because there is one extra student in the class."

The class looked at each other.

"Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, Katana Kasuma," Iruka said. "And the last member is Kiba Inuzuka."

Katana was stunned for some reason. _Me with Kiba_!?!?! She thought and without noticing, fell back in her seat and bumped her head on the ground.

She blinked open her eyes and saw lots of people looking down at her. Crouched beside her was Kiba. "Idiot, why did you fall off your seat?"

"Don't blame me," Katana said and sat up, holding the back of her head. Kiba helped her stand up and she punched him lightly on the shoulder. "And I'm not an idiot! You are!"

"Well I didn't fall of my seat now did I?" Kiba teased.

"Shut up! It was an accident!"

"Right-e-o, you keep telling yourself that," Kiba smiled and sat back down in his seat.

"I will, oh and Kiba?"

He looked at her. "Yeah, what?"

Katana made hand-signs. "Clone Jutsu!"

Kiba's eyes widened as a clone of Katana tackled him off his seat and onto the ground. Akamaru jumped into Katana's arms and she patted him. "Hello sweaty."

"What was that for!?" Kiba growled with a laugh and the clone disappeared.

"For calling me an idiot," Katana smiled and sat in her seat.

"So I call you an idiot and you send a clone to tackle me!?!?!"

Katana looked deep in thought. "Yep."

"Okay, okay!" Iruka said and read out squad 9. "Squad 10. Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara."

When the squads were finished, everyone was let out for lunch. After lunch they would all meet their squad leaders.

Katana was walking away from the Academy. "Yo, Katana!"

She turned around and saw Kiba, Shino and Hinata. She stopped and waited for them. "What's up?"

"We just thought that, considering we're on the same squad, that we could have lunch together," Hinata said quietly.

Akamaru barked.

Katana smiled. "That'd be nice."

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"Kaya! Oh jeez, where is she now!?"

Pain and nearly the rest of the Akatsuki were looking around the Waterfall Cave.

"Maybe she went for a walk," Deidara replied, he was confused. Kaya had said she would rest all day, but it was noon and she was gone.

Pain sighed. "Itachi, Kisame, go look for her."

"Uh..... Pain?" Kisame said.

"What is it?"

"Itachi's not here."

"Where is he!?"

Kisame shrugged.

"Well go look for him!" Pain snapped. "Deidara, go look for Kaya on your clay bird and Hidan, go look for her in the forest."

All three of them nodded and took off out of the cave.

Pain walked around the cave, looking stressed. "I told her to rest all day!"

"Maybe she went to train," Tobi said.

"But I told her to rest!"

"You know she doesn't do everything we tell her to do," Kakuzu reminded him.

"Yes, but she was so exhausted. I thought she'd take a break because she had been training all night!!!"

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"Alright, give me a break already!"

"Fine."

Kaya stood up and helped Itachi to get up, he was covered in dirt. He brushed it off and Kaya sat down, tired.

"You know you shouldn't push yourself," Itachi said.

"I know," Kaya replied. "But I don't want to waste anymore time acting like a two year old. I want to get stronger and become an S-rank ninja like you and the others."

Itachi crouched down. "That means you have lots of training to do."

Kaya nodded. "So it's best I start now instead of later."

Itachi sighed. "When did you get like this?"

"Last night," Kaya said and thought to herself. _When I was training with Katana. She's strong and for some reason, she made me feel as if I needed to get stronger_.

Itachi sighed and Kaya stood up. "Let's keep training!" she said.

He stood up to and put a hand on her shoulder. "You've trained enough. You shouldn't have even convinced me to come out here with you to help you train."

"Well it was that or go alone," she smiled and got ready to fight. "Come on. One more fight and then we'll go back."

Itachi looked at her. She had dirt all over her face and she was breathing hard, but she showed determination in her eyes. He shrugged and got ready to fight her, but then he noticed she started wobbling on her legs.

Before he could say anything, she ran at him. All he had to do was put his arms out and catch her as she lost her balance and fell. "That's enough, kid," he said.

"But...." Kaya murmured and when she tried to stand up, her legs gave way and she fell on her knees.

Itachi picked her up. "You've trained too much."

"No I haven't," Kaya replied.

"Stop arguing and accept the fact that you've pushed your body to its limits," Itachi said.

Kaya mumbled something but eventually, her eyes became heavy and she closed them, falling asleep with her head on his shoulder.

He looked at her and shook his head. "Pain won't be happy," he murmured.

"Itachi!"

Itachi turned around and saw Hidan. "I take it you were looking for her?" Itachi said, nodding to Kaya.

Hidan nodded. "Pain got worried, and stressed."

"Sorry," Itachi replied. "She asked me to take her out and train her."

Hidan looked at her. "She over did it as usual, I see."

"Yeah, she was going to fight me again, but her legs couldn't hold her up anymore. I'll take her back to the Waterfall Cave."

Hidan nodded. "I'll go find Deidara and Kisame. They came out looking for the both of you."

Itachi shook his head and ran off.

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"Itachi, where have you been?! And what the hell happened to Kaya this time!?!?" Pain growled.

"Sorry Pain," Itachi said. "But Kaya insisted that I train her for a little while."

Pain shook his head with anger and looked at Kaya. "She's had a change of mind for some reason. She's changed."

"Yeah, since last night," Itachi said and turned his head when Hidan, Kisame and Deidara came back. "Deidara? Did you notice a change in Kaya when she was training with you last night?"

Deidara froze. "Uh... not really. She just wanted to train really hard."

"I wonder what made her train until she couldn't stand anymore," Hidan said.

Itachi shrugged. "What ever it was, it's only half good."

"What do you mean only half good?" Kakuzu said. "This is really good because she's training harder now."

"The bad thing about it is that she's training too hard," Konan said, walking over to Itachi and put her hand on Kaya's forehead. "She even has a temperature."

Everyone looked at Konan. Was she serious?!

"Will she be okay?" Sasori asked, walking over and checking Kaya's temperature himself.

"I think so," Konan smiled. "She just needs a few herbs, some rest and she'll be fine."

"I am fine," Kaya said, opening her eyes and lifting her head up, but suddenly held her head. "Ow."

Konan smiled. "You don't need to act brave. I'll go get you some herbs and I'll be back."

Kaya nodded without complaint and rested her head on Itachi's shoulder again. Konan left the cave and took off in search of herbs.

"Looks like she'll have to stay here while we invade that village tonight," Zetsu said.

"Probably," Pain sighed.

"I could manage it," Kaya murmured.

Pain sighed. "Fine, okay. If you're feeling better by then. But not too much fighting and killing."

Kaya nodded and smiled. "Oh and Itachi?"

"Yeah?"

"You can put me down now, I think I can stand on my own now."

Itachi put her down and she stood on her feet for a few seconds. Then she stumbled and Sasori quickly helped her regain balance. "Come on, kid. You need rest."

Sasori put Kaya on his back and took her to the end of the cave. He put her down and she sat with her back against the wall. "Thanks, Sasori," she smiled.

Sasori nodded and put a hand on her forehead again to check her temperature. He quickly drew back. "Pain!"

Pain ran over to them and crouched down beside them. "What's wrong?!"

"Her temperature is way too high!"

Pain looked at Kaya, she suddenly looked like she could barely breathe, gripping her cloak where her heart was, sweat dripping down her face, her eyes half closed. He put a hand on her forehead and drew back just as Sasori did. "She's over done it and her body can't handle it."

"What should we do?" Deidara asked as he and the others ran over.

"I don't know," Pain admitted. "Only Konan is good with healing."

"I'll go find her," Hidan said and ran out of the cave with his lightning speed, just like Kaya.

"Ah!!"

Everyone turned back to Kaya, her whole body was shaking and the hand over her heart was clenched so tight, her palm was bleeding, her other hand was on the ground, clenched tightly, a bit of blood from the palm.

"Kaya, it's okay. Hidan when to get Konan," Deidara said.

Kaya didn't reply, she was in too much pain. Suddenly, the hand that was on the ground moved to her neck as she started to cough, it sounded terrible.

Hidan came running back in with Konan on his back. She jumped off of his back and ran over to Kaya, the others moved back to give her space. "What happened!?" Konan demanded.

"I put her down and checked her temperature and she suddenly became like this," Sasori replied.

Kaya moved to her side and was on her hands and knees, coughing.

"Is she coughing up blood!?" Deidara exclaimed.

"Yes," Konan replied. "Her body is having trouble adapting to the sudden increase of training she's been doing."

"What does that mean?" Pain asked.

"It means if she continues to train this hard all the time she's going to die!"

Everyone stood frozen.

"She won't die now will she?!?!?!" Deidara asked.

Konan shook her head. "But I still need to get those herbs."

"So what do we do until then?" Hidan asked.

"You can't do anything," Konan replied. "She'll only settle down once she gets the herbs."

"So you're saying she has to be like this until you get back?!" Pain said.

Konan nodded and turned to Hidan. "You're the fastest, besides Kaya. I'll need your help if we want to be quick to help her."

Hidan nodded and put Konan on his back.

"We'll be back soon," Konan replied. "Just make sure she tries to stay still. Ger her some water, she'll need it."

Hidan took off and Deidara went and got some water for Kaya. He came back and Kaya was leaning against the wall again, trying to breathe. He crouched beside her and offered her the water. "Kaya, come on, take this."

Kaya looked at it and shook her head.

"Kaya, you need to drink some water," Deidara insisted.

"I.......... can't!" Kaya managed to say and gripped her cloak near her heart. Deidara and the others watched as she started coughing again. She put a hand over her mouth and they all saw more blood.

Sasori looked towards the cave entrance. _Oh, Konan. Please hurry. She's not coping_. He thought.

Kaya looked at her friends but they were suddenly gone. She was seeing something else, something that happened eight years ago.


	4. Chapter 4

_**8 years ago**_

Kaya opened her eyes, but everything was dark. She stood up and banged her head on something. _Where am I_? She thought, pushing the lid off of the barrel she had been thrown into when her sister used her power to save her. Kaya had been thrown backwards and she landed in the barrel. She got out of it and looked around, dead bodies of her village were everywhere.

"Sister?" Kaya said. "Sister!!!!!!!!"

No reply.

Kaya panicked. What had happened to the tiger-

Kaya looked to the entrance to the village gates. The giant tiger was lying on the ground, dead.

_Did my sister kill that demon_? Kaya wondered. _And where is she_?

Kaya walked over to the tiger and saw blood on its teeth from when it bit her father in two. She reached out a hand and touched its fur. She ran her hand through the orange and black fur and looked up into the sky. There was dark clouds and she saw snow flakes beginning to fall.

She turned around, concerned about her sister. "Sister!!!!!????"

She looked at the ground and saw footprints. She followed them with her eyes and realized that they lead outside of the village.

_She, left_? Kaya thought. _Without me? No! She would never do that! But what if she ran off in fear? What if she had to run out of the village but she didn't make it? What if she's dead_!?

She walked around the village, looking to see if, maybe, her sister was still alive and came back.

More snowflakes began to fall and soon, the ground was covered in snow.

Kaya was freezing and she sat down, hugging her knees to her chest and her whole body was shaking from the cold.

A few days passed and Kaya was frozen, tired and starving. She knew she was going to die. Night had come and the only shelter she had was a cardboard box because all the houses had been destroyed by the tiger in the fight and execution of her village. She was so exhausted that her body hurt when she moved.

She heard footsteps and turned her head to see 10 people in black cloaks with red symbols on it. One of the guys crouched down to her level. She jumped up and put her arms up to defend herself. She didn't know these people, and she was scared that they'd try and hurt her.

"It's alright, kid," the guy said. He had orange hair and orange eyes. He smiled at her. "We're not going to harm you."

Kaya kept her arms up, she didn't trust them. But then her legs became wobbly and gave way. She fell forward and the guy grabbed her. "You're freezing," he said.

Kaya panicked and tried to jump away from him but he was holding her arms.

"Hey, calm down, kid," he said. "We won't hurt you."

"She doesn't look like she'd be much of a meal anyway," another guy said and Kaya looked at the big green jaws over his head and her eyes filled with fear and she yelped, trying to get away from the orange-haired guy.

He picked her up and held her in the air, watching her kicking her legs and trying to get free.

"She's weak," he said.

"She doesn't look weak," remarked a guy with blond hair in a high ponytail and a long fringe over his left eye.

"She is," the orange-haired guy said. "But she's scared." He turned back to the kid. "Come on, kid. Calm down, you're safe. We won't hurt you, alright."

Kaya stopped struggling and a tear came down her face.

"We can tell she's scared," said another guy with long black hair in a ponytail and red eyes with three tiny symbols that looked like half of the Yin Yang sign.

"She's probably just scared of Pain," said a guy with red hair. "Pain, give her to me."

The orange-haired guy named Pain, gave Kaya to the red-haired guy. "You try and get her to calm down, Sasori."

The red-head, Sasori, hugged Kaya close to him. "Don't worry, kid. We're not here to hurt you."

Kaya was still scared, they were strangers to her. And some of them looked more scarier than others.

"You're whole village was destroyed, wasn't it?" Sasori asked Kaya. She nodded. "Is there anyone else here to look after you?" She shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him.

Pain and the other people watched in silence.

"It was that big tiger, wasn't it?" Sasori asked. Kaya nodded. "How did it die? Do you know?"

Kaya shook her head and hugged him tighter.

"What's your name? I'm Sasori."

"Kaya," she said quietly.

"I can't hear you," he smiled. "Let's try that again. Who are you?"

"Kaya," she said, a little louder.

"That's a nice name," he said.

"What should we do with the girl, Pain?" the guy with the red eyes asked.

Pain was looking at Kaya, she had shown strength and courage, despite being so weak. "We'll bring her with us."

The others looked at him. "What?"

"I agree with him," Sasori said. "We can't just leave this kid to die. She wouldn't even last one more day out here alone."

Pain nodded. "We'll bring her with us and when she's a little older, maybe we could teach her to fight. She looks like she's a young Kunoichi."

The others looked thoughtful and nodded.

"Would you like to come with us, Kaya?" Sasori asked.

Kaya looked around her village, letting go of Sasori's neck. She moved around and Sasori put her on her feet. Kaya grabbed his hand and tried leading him through the village. He just stood there, looking down at her pulling his arm.

"What the?" Pain said.

"I think she likes you, Sasori," said a girl with blue hair.

Kaya pulled on his arm. "Come," she said with her quiet, cute voice.

"Okay," Sasori said, confused. He followed her through the village, the others did to.

She stopped when they were right in front of the rotting carcass of the giant tiger. The people covered their noses from the stench, but Kaya was so used to it, she hardly recognized it. She pointed to the footprints on the ground, she snow had not covered them.

"Footprints, hooray, give the kid a medal," said the guy with the jaws over his head.

Kaya glared at him and he was suddenly afraid.

Sasori crouched down beside her, still covering his nose. "Who's footprints are these?"

"My sisters'," Kaya replied. "I think she's dead."

Sasori looked at the others. "What happened to her?"

"I.... I went to fight the tiger but she got in the way and used her special Jutsu. I got thrown back and I haven't seen her in days. I think her special attack was too powerful and it killed her."

Sasori gave Kaya a hug and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But how could you fight the tiger and hope to win?" Pain asked her.

Kaya looked at him. "Like my sister I also have a special Jutsu. My mother said it would be very powerful when I grew up," she replied, sounding like she was older than she was. "But my Jutsu failed when the tigers' eyes met with mine, I don't know why."

A cold wind blew and Kaya's body shivered.

"Jeez, you're frozen solid," Sasori said and let her go, taking off his cloak. He put it on her and picked her up in his arms.

Kaya was warming up quickly and she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.

"Pain, we have to take her with us," Sasori said. "She won't survive alone."

Pain nodded. "She sounds like she could be a useful aspect to the Akatsuki, by the way she spoke."

"Sounds to me as if she has a Kekkei Genkai," said the blond-haired guy.

"Yeah," Pain sighed. "And one day we'll find out what that power is."

Pain led his followers out of the village with Kaya. She opened her eyes to see her village one last time. She couldn't live there anymore, and she was the only survivor. She closed her eyes again and fell asleep.

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Kaya gripped her cloak and breathed quickly, her body was shaking and her heart was racing. Sasori put a hand on her forehead to check her temperature again. "Oh jeez. She's freezing up!"

He took his cloak off and put it over Kaya and hugged her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him back.

"We're back!"

Sasori and the others turned and saw Hidan and Konan.

Konan jumped off of Hidan's back and raced over to Kaya. "Is she able to move?"

"What do you mean?" Pain asked.

"In the forest me and Konan found an abandoned hideout," Hidan replied.

"We could stay there instead of in this cave all the time," Konan added.

Pain nodded. "Okay, we'll stay there instead."

"I'll carry Kaya," Sasori said and took her in his arms. Kaya started to warm up and she rested her head on his shoulder. He looked down at her and smiled. "Just like the time we met," he murmured.

"Yeah, she still likes you the most," Pain said with a laugh.

"Only because she was scared of you," Sasori said.

Pain shrugged. "Let's just get her to our new hideout so we can treat her."

The Akatsuki nodded and raced out of the Waterfall Cave and Kaya fell asleep on Sasori's shoulder.

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"Our squad leader is late!"

"It hasn't even been ten minutes, Katana," Shino said. "Give our squad leader time to get here."

Katana shrugged and rested her head on the desk she was sitting at.

Soon enough, a woman stepped into the classroom and all four teammates looked up.

"Hello everybody," she smiled. "I am your new squad leader, Kurenai."

Katana blinked. "You're finally here. We've been waiting for ages!"

"It's been ten minutes," Kiba said.

Katana poked her tongue out at him and Kurenai laughed.

Katana looked at her. "Can we go train now!?"

Kurenai shrugged. "I don't see why not. But let's get to know each other for now."

Katana sighed. "Okay."

Hinata smiled.

"You," Kurenai said to Hinata. "What is your name? And tell me a little bit about you."

Hinata nodded. "My name is Hinata Hyuga. There's a guy that I like but he doesn't seem to notice me. That's about it, I think."

Kurenai shrugged. "Okay, boy with the glasses."

"I am Shino Aburame. I have an extreme fascination with bugs and I can use them in battle."

"Bug nerd," Kiba murmured.

"Boy with the dog, who are you?" Kurenai asked.

"I am Kiba Inuzuka and this is my best friend, Akamaru," Kiba said and Akamaru barked. "I know how to communicate with my pal and he is always a great help whilst training and in battle."

Kurenai nodded. "Last one."

Katana lifted her head from the desk and blinked her eyes open. "What?"

"Where you listening?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah, I heard every word," Katana yawned.

"Okay," Kurenai said. "Go on then."

"What? Oh yeah, right. My name is Katana Kasuma. I love training to get stronger and I also like getting up to mischief because it's fun. Most of the time I train alone but last night I trained with a friend I made- Oops."

"Friend?" Kurenai echoed. "Who?"

"No one," Katana said. "I... I just got mixed up with a funny dream I had one night."

Kurenai looked at her for a few moments. "Everyone has weird dreams and sometimes they accidentally make it sound like it was real."

Katana sighed.

"Who was it?" Kiba whispered.

"I'll tell you later," Katana whispered back.

Kurenai clapped her hands together. "Okay, meet me at the training field tomorrow for your first training lesson."

"What!? So we're not training today!?" Katana complained.

"No, today you can have a break," Kurenai smiled and walked to the door. "See you tomorrow."

When Kurenai left, Kiba looked at Katana. "So who was that 'friend' of yours that you trained with last night?"

"She's a girl that's not from the village," Katana replied. "In fact, she's not from any village. She stays with a group of extremely powerful ninja that took her in after her village was destroyed a while back like mine. She's really strong, almost as if she's 15 or 16, but she's only 13."

"She's really that strong!?" Hinata asked and she and Shino joined them.

Katana nodded. "Her name is Kaya."

"What's her last name?" Shino asked.

"I don't know," Katana replied. "She didn't tell me."

"But it must have been a village in this region," Kiba said. "If she's hanging around here with those ninja's. But the only villages to be destroyed in this region was the Kasuma Clan and the Uchiha Clan. No other villages have been destroyed."

"Yeah, and another strange thing is, that the demon that destroyed my Clan, was the same demon that destroyed her village," Katana looked deep in thought.

"Maybe she was from your Clan," Kiba suggested.

"No, I'm pretty sure I would remember," Katana shook her head.

"The Uchiha Clan?"

"I don't know."

"Well maybe you should ask Sasuke," Hinata said. "He would know."

Katana growled under her breath. She didn't really get along with Sasuke and she didn't really want to talk to him.

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Kurenai thought for a moment. _Could that girl be part of the Akatsuki if she doesn't come from a village? And if she's as strong as Katana says, this 'Kaya' could mean trouble for the village_.

Kurenai walked away from the door and left the Academy, wondering whether or not to tell the Hokage.

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"Hey, Sasuke."

Sasuke turned around and looked at Katana, he had his hands in his pockets and Katana growled under her breath. She didn't want to talk to him but she had to find out where Kaya came from.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked as she reached him.

"Jeez, you don't have to be so rude," Katana grumbled. "I want to talk to you about something."

"About what?" he asked.

"I met his girl in the forest last night," Katana sighed. "And she said she doesn't belong to a village because hers was destroyed years ago. She's been staying with a group of powerful ninja since then, but the only villages known to be destroyed is my Clan, and yours. So what I want to ask is, was there a girl called Kaya in the Uchiha Clan before it got destroyed?"

Sasuke looked shocked, as if he was suddenly struck by a sword or something.

"Uh.... Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head and looked normal again. "What?"

"Was there a girl called Kaya in the Uchiha Clan?"

"No, but you said she was with powerful ninja without a village. What kind of powerful ninja, who are they!?"

"Sorry but she never told me," Katana replied, shocked to hear Sasuke speak like that. "But if you want, tonight I can show you."

Sasuke blinked. "How? Just go find her?"

"Yep. Pretty much."

He looked a little nervous by the idea, but he nodded. "I want to know who these 'powerful' ninja are."

Katana nodded. "I'll go get some others to come with us and we'll leave at sunset."

Sasuke nodded and Katana took off.

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"Kaya, are you feeling better?"

Kaya looked up to see Deidara sitting beside a bed that she was lying in. Sasori was walking around the room looking worried and the others were sitting down on a couch.

She sat up but quickly held her chest.

Sasori stopped walking around and came over. "Kaya, try and stay still. The herbs will only just be starting to take effect."

"I'm fine," Kaya said, her voice a little faulty. "Where are we?"

"This is our new hideout," Deidara said. "It's better than the Waterfall Cave."

Kaya smiled and looked around.. "It looks nice."

"Sasori, Deidara, we leave in one hour," Pain said and got up, walking to the front door. Konan walked after him.

The two guys nodded and Kaya looked confused. "Where are you going?"

"To a village," Deidara replied. "So we can kill some people."

Kaya smiled. "Can I go?"

"You don't look well enough for that," Sasori said. "We don't want you getting hurt."

"Yeah, because you've suffered enough already," Itachi said, coming over to join them. "You'd probably get hurt like last time."

"But I've trained more!" Kaya protested, her voice gaining strength. "I can handle it!"

"That's for Pain to decide when he gets back with Konan," Sasori said. "But for now, Kaya, you should rest."

Kaya sighed. "But I'm not tired"

Sasori shook his head when Kaya tried to stand up. "You're gonna fall over."

Kaya jumped out of the bed she had been lying in and walked around the room.

"I think she _is_ feeling better," Deidara laughed as Kaya jumped around the room with a smile on her face.

She tripped on Hidan's weapon and let out a yelp. But before she could hit the wooden floor, Hidan jumped up and caught her. She smiled innocently and jumped up out of his arms. "Sorry."

"Take it easy, kid," Hidan said. "I think you should rest a bit more."

"But I'm not tired!" Kaya complained, hopping around on one foot.

"Kaya, if Pain does let you come with us to attack the village, you'll need your energy," Tobi said.

Kaya sighed and went and sat on the bed. "I wanna go train!"

"Well you can't," Itachi said. "Your body can't handle the massive amount of training you've been doing. That's why you got so sick before."

"And if you keep going on training like that," Kakuzu added. "You'll die."

Kaya's eyes widened. "WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

"I was only kidding," Konan said as she and Pain came back with more herbs.

Kaya covered her nose when she smelt them. "They stink!"

"They smell like peppermint," Konan said.

"I don't care _what_ they smell like!" Kaya grumbled. "They stink!"

Konan sighed. "Well you'll be taking the herb mixture I make so you can fully recover."

"Damn!"

"Pain, Kaya wants to come with us tonight," Deidara said.

Pain looked at Kaya who jumped up and started walking around again. "She seems fit enough."

"I'm fine," Kaya smiled. "Please can I come?"

Pain sighed and looked at Kaya's puppy dog eyes. "Alright, alright! You can come."

"YAY!" Kaya said and jumped on his back.

"Well at least you're not scared of me like you were when we found you," Pain laughed.

"I _was_ scared of you because you held me in the air and you looked really scary," Kaya smiled at him.

"Oh, and Sasori wasn't?"

"No," Kaya grinned. "And Sasori actually looks friendly, and he was nicer than you were."

Sasori smiled. He remembered that night as clearly as Kaya did.

"I tried to calm you down."

"Yeah, you _tried_! You tried and failed."

A while passed and Kaya was still jumping around. "Can we go now!?!?!?"

"Yes, we can go," Pain replied. "Let's go everyone."

Everybody stood up and followed Pain out into the woods. Kaya raced alongside Deidara and Sasori.

"You sure you're okay with this, kid?" Deidara asked Kaya.

Kaya nodded. "I want to make this village attack better than the last one."

Deidara smiled. "Just stick with one of us and you'll be fine."

"Okay," Kaya agreed.

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Katana raced passed the village gates with Sasuke, Kiba, Naruto, Shikamaru and Choji. They reached the forest unnoticed.

"So, tell me again why we're out here anyway," Choji said.

"We're going to find Kaya," Katana replied. "I want to know which village was destroyed, and Sasuke wants to know who the powerful ninja are that she's staying with."

"Why are you so interested in the 'powerful' ninja?" Naruto asked Sasuke.

"I'll tell you later," Sasuke said. "If my guess is correct."

Katana glanced at him. _Guess_?

They ran through the forest and further away from the village, Choji made them stop so he could grab a quick snack.

"Choji, it hasn't even been half an hour!" Katana complained.

"I gotta eat don't I?" Choji replied and shoved some potato chips in his mouth.

Katana and the others sighed and waited for Choji to finish eating. Katana's foot was tapping on the ground as the five minute mark passed and he was still eating. "Are you done yet!?"

"No, I'm starving!"

Katana growled and started pulling Choji by his scarf. "You can eat later!"

They started running again and an hour passed by. Katana and the others were getting a headache as Choji continuously complained about being hungry.

"Hey, what's that up ahead?" Kiba wondered and pointed to some black smoke in the sky coming from a village a little further ahead.

"Let's check it out!" Naruto suggested.

"Don't be stupid," Shikamaru sighed. "You never know what could be happening."  
"Naruto has a point though," Katana said as she heard a tiny scream. "We should see if we can help. There seems to be trouble."

The others nodded and Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."

The group of Genin raced down a dirt path and found the gates to the village.

"What the!!!!!!" Katana exclaimed when she saw that the village was being attacked.


	5. Chapter 5

Kaya made hand-signs. "Fire style, Fireball Jutsu!"

A ball of fire came out of her hands when she drew out her breath and she burned some villagers. She was happy, this village attack was better than her first.

She saw Deidara make a clay insect with the mouths on his hands using some clay and his Chakra. He threw it at a balcony and the clay insect exploded. The balcony crumbled and landed on some villagers, crushing them.

"Art is a blast," Deidara smiled. Kaya laughed.

Sasori used his Chakra to control a puppet and it killed a few villagers.

Kaya was about to attack a woman but she froze when she saw the village's reinforcements enter the village.

She saw the ninja's defending the villagers and she quickly hid.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?!?!?!?!" Katana growled.

"Mind your own business!" Pain growled back. "Go run back to your own village."

"We will, after we help _this_ village," Katana glared defiance at Pain and Kaya watched her leader clench his fists.

Pain suddenly smiled and looked at his followers. "Chase them out of here."

Kaya looked at Itachi, for some reason, his eyes were on a boy with black hair with a blue shirt and white pants. The boy looked like Itachi.

Katana looked over in Kaya's direction and Kaya ducked her head, hoping that Katana didn't see her.

"Was that who I think it was," Katana said to herself.

Kaya panicked. She couldn't let Katana know she was with the Akatsuki, otherwise she would consider her an enemy. She took her cloak off, put it where her friends would find it, got up and ran off.

"It's her!" Katana exclaimed and ran after her friend. Katana's friends followed her.

Pain watched Kaya run off. _She's a smart one_, he thought. _Leading them away so we can finish the job_.

Kaya ran out of the village and through the forest.

"Kaya! Wait up!" she heard Katana call.

Kaya kept running. If she was caught, she would need to explain her presence at the village.

She used her lightning speed and ran even faster. _I can't let them catch me_! She thought.

Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground from behind and held on the grass and dirt of the forest floor.

"I said wait up!" Katana breathed. "Kaya. What were you doing at that village!?"

"I....." Kaya started.

"You what?"

"I heard people screaming and I went to check it out," Kaya finished. "I thought I could help but when you guys showed up I ran off because I thought you could handle it."

"Gee, thanks," Shikamaru sighed.

"Now let me up!" Kaya growled.

Katana let Kaya up. "Kaya, my friends wanted to meet you. This is Kiba, Shikamaru, Naruto, Choji and Sasuke," she said, pointing to each of her friends as she said their names.

Kaya nodded to them and looked at Katana. "So you came all the way out here just for your friends to meet me. You should've stayed in your safe little village instead of roaming the land whilst the Akatsuki is around!"

Sasuke looked at Kaya. "You know of the Akatsuki?"

Kaya froze and quickly thought of an excuse. "Yeah, the ninja's I stay with told me of them. They're murderous ninja's that don't take any mercy."

"So you tell us to stay in our village," Katana snorted. "Why don't you run back to your ninja friends for safety from the Akatsuki?"

"I don't need safety!" Kaya snapped. "I can survive out here, no problems."

"And you're saying we can't?" Katana growled.

"Well you're foolish enough to say to the Akatsuki that you would fight them to protect that stupid village back there," Kaya growled back. "The Akatsuki are S-ranked ninja. Way higher ranked than a Jonin ninja from Shinobi villages. Way higher ranked than a Hokage, a Mizukage, a Raikage, a Kazekage or a Tsuchikage!."

"Which means you won't be able to defend against them either," Sasuke said.

"I get around. I've lived with the ninja's for eight years and I'm not dead yet," Kaya replied. "Just go back to your village and stay there playing with your harmless ninja toys!"

Katana was looking at Akamaru for a few seconds but her gaze snapped back to Kaya, flashing with fury. "What did you say!?!?!?!?!?!"

"You heard me," Kaya growled.

"Whoa! Settle down!" Naruto said. "Don't go getting into a fight-"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Katana snarled. "She's gonna pay for what she said. She disrespected our village!"

"So what if I did!" Kaya challenged. "You won't beat me."

"You weren't like this the first time we met," Katana said.

"Yeah, well people change."

Katana looked at Kaya for a few moments, growling. Then she sighed. "I won't fight you. We only came to find out something."

Kaya rolled her eyes. "What is it?"

"When we first met. You said your village was destroyed, what village was that?"

"Why is it your business?!" Kaya snapped, sounding fierce.

"Because I want to know."

Kaya growled and turned her back to leave. "It was called the Kasuma Clan."

Katana froze and Kaya started walking away. "You're kidding!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! So your full name is-"

"My full name..... is Kaya Kasuma."

Kiba and the others looked at Katana.

"This is a joke, right?" Katana said.

"You said you wanted to know what my village was," Kaya said and looked over her shoulder. "So I told you. Now thanks to you, the memory of losing my sister has come back."

"But the Kasuma Clan is _my_ Clan!!!!!!"

Kaya fully turned around. "Now _you're_ just joking around."

"No, I'm not!" Katana exclaimed. "The Kasuma Clan was destroyed by the huge tiger that had three tails. I thought I was the only survivor after I killed the tiger, and........ after I think I killed my sister," Katana's head dropped.

"You killed your sister?" Kaya said, suddenly interested. "Tell me what happened."

Katana lifted her head. "My sister and me watched as our parents were killed by the tiger. My sister was staring at the tiger as I cried for our mother."

Kaya's eyes widened. "Go on."

"My sister started walking towards the tiger, her Chakra forming in her hand. But when the tiger looked at her, the Chakra disappeared."

Kaya stepped back one step, her eyes wide with shock as memories flashed in her mind.

"The tiger was about to bite her in half but I jumped in the middle and used my Kekkei Genkai. My sister was thrown back and I think she was killed. The tiger was killed to. After that, I was so scared that I had killed my own sister whilst trying to save her, I ran out of the destroyed village."

Kaya felt as if her legs couldn't hold her up. Her heart was racing a million miles an hour.

"Are you okay, Kaya?" Sasuke said and Katana blinked away her tears to see Kaya's expression, she looked half terrified, almost, and half stunned as if she didn't believe the story she was just told.

"That's not possible!" Kaya said, her voice shaky. "My sister killed that tiger, but my sister was never seen again. I thought she was dead!"

"Your sister killed that tiger!?!?!" Naruto exclaimed to Kaya, then looked at Katana.

Kaya nodded. "I was facing the tiger but my sister jumped in and used her Jutsu. I was thrown back and I landed in a barrel and knocked unconscious. When I woke up, my sister was gone and I suspected she was dead."

Kiba looked from Kaya to Katana and back to Kaya. "But if your sister killed that tiger, and Katana says that _she_ killed it........"

Kaya and Katana were looking at him.

"Then, by the way you both told your stories........." Kiba took a deep breath. "You two could be sisters."

Kaya and Katana looked at each other and in their eyes, the day of the destruction replayed again.

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_**8 years ago**_

"Katana. Katana! Wake up!"

Katana opened her eyes. "What is it, mother?"

"Go wake your sister up. Hurry!"

Katana got out of bed and her eyes were drawn to the window. A fair distance away, she saw a huge tiger with three lashing tails walking towards the village. She ran to her sisters room and shook her.

"Kaya! Wake up! Wake up!"

Kaya rolled over and blinked her eyes open. "What is it, Katana. Trying to sleep." She closed her eyes again.

"Wake up!" Katana said, sounding scared. "You have to wake up!"

Kaya sighed and sat up. "Why? What's the problem?"

"There's this giant tiger thing with three tails and it has big red eyes and these really big claws and-"

"Katana, slow down," Kaya yawned. "What's with this tiger thing?"

"It's coming to the village!" Katana cried. "And mother is really scared!"

"Okay, that's not good!" she said and jumped up.

Their mother rushed in. "Come on, children. We have to get out of here!"

Katana and Kaya ran after their mother out of the house and they met with their father.

Kaya looked up at the tiger that was now just upon the village. People were running around, screaming, some ninja's of the village ran over to try and fight the tiger but they were knocked away like flies. "That's one huge cat," she remarked.

"There's no time to admire it!" her father growled, glaring at her. Kaya and their father never really got along. He grasped a kunai in his hand. "I have to go."

Katana's mother nodded and looked at their children. "We both do." She gripped onto a kunai in one hand and twirled a shuriken on one finger on the other hand.

"Be careful," Katana heard Kaya say. Her sister was older by five months and she was very strong and brave.

"Take care of your sister," their mother said.

"I will mother," she replied.

"Katana, you make sure that the two of you get out of this village," their father said. "Don't let your sister try and come back."

"Of course," Katana said, her voice shaky.

They watched their parents run towards the giant beast. Katana grabbed her sisters' arm and dragged her gaze away from the giant tiger. "Kaya, we have to go."

Kaya pulled Katana to her and gave her a hug. "It's okay, Katana. It'll be okay."

Kaya let her go and they ran together through the village. But one problem, the giant tiger appeared in front of the only exit to the village, meaning no one could escape.

The tiger swung its massive paw and nearly all the villagers were thrown.

Katana saw her parents run passed her and they went for the tiger. All the villagers were dead in seconds flat, only the ninja's, Katana and Kaya were alive.

Katana and her sister watched the ninja's attempting to fight the tiger. "Kaya, what do we do?"

"I don't know, Katana. The only way out of the village is blocked," Kaya replied.

Katana was shaking violently and holding onto her sisters' arm with fear. She felt Kaya tense up when they saw their parents get thrown away by the tiger. Their mother landed beside them and Katana ran over to her, tears falling out of her eyes. Kaya just stood there, glaring at the tiger, fists clenched. She could hear Katana crying as their mother died, and she watched her father run back to the monster, he was the only ninja left.

The tiger threw its head down and before Katana's father could move, half of his body was bitten off. He was killed.

Katana looked at her sister, Kaya was looking up at the tiger, and the tiger was looking back down at her.

It started walking towards her and she started walking towards it, blue Chakra starting to form in her hand.

"Kaya, no-"

"It's okay, Katana," Kaya replied. "I'll distract it. Meanwhile, you get out of here."

Katana watched her sister continue walking to the tiger, she was scared, she knew Kaya wasn't strong enough to take it down, and neither was she. But she knew Kaya would die trying to save her!

Suddenly, the blue ball of Chakra in Kaya's hand disappeared when the tigers' red eyes beamed into her and it opened its mouth, ready to bite her body in two.

The jaws came down and Kaya stood her ground.

Katana got up and ran in front of her sister, holding one arm up. "ARMATO SUMORATA!!!!!!!"

A blue-green-aqua ball of Chakra formed in Katana's hand and expanded to be so big that the blast sent her sister flying backwards. The tiger roared when the blast struck it and it fell to the ground.

Katana fell to one knee and the Chakra went away. She was breathing heavily and she watched the tiger slowly die.

When she was sure it was dead, she stood up and turned around smiling. "Did you see that Kaya-" She blinked, her sister was nowhere to be seen. "Kaya? KAYA!!!!!!"

She looked around and listened, but there was no sight nor sound of her sister.

"Did I...... did I just kill my own sister?" she murmured to herself. "Oh, please no!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "NNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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Kaya and Katana looked at one another. "It's not possible!" Katana said.

"Well you both look alike," Shikamaru said.

"It can't be!" Kaya said. "My sister is dead! Her massive amount of Chakra killed her!"

"And my massive amount of Chakra killed _my_ sister!" Katana said.

Kaya blinked. "If you are my sister, then what power did you use to kill the tiger and save me?"

"Armato Sumorata," Katana replied. "I screamed it out when I used it."

Kaya nearly fell to the ground, she was so shocked, her mind was swirling with sadness and shock. "My sister is still alive then. You're still alive!"

Katana's eyes filled with tears. "So.... I didn't kill you! I actually saved you!"

Kaya suddenly growled. "Yeah, you saved me and left me!" she snarled. Not realizing what she was saying.

Katana looked taken aback. "What!?"

"When you killed that tiger, did you even bother to look around for me?! Did you even stop to think that I might be stuck somewhere?! I was alone in that village for days, and snow started falling. I was freezing, exhausted and starving! If it wasn't for those ninja's I'm staying with, I would have died in that village!!! But you left, you left me to try and survive on my own. If I had of died back then, it would have been all your fault."

Kaya turned around.

"But I didn't mean to!" Katana cried. "I thought you were dead! If I had of known-"

"I don't want your excuses!" Kaya snapped. "I have to go, the ninja's will be waiting for me. Good-bye Katana."

Kaya walked away.

"Kaya wait!" Katana called. "Please! I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry!"

Tears ran down Katana's face. Kaya looked over her shoulder, her eyes full of sadness. Then Kaya ran off and Katana fell to her knees, crying her eyes out.

"Katana!" Kiba exclaimed and crouched down beside her, one hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't know!" Katana murmured, her whole body shaking. "If I had of.... I would have stayed with her! I didn't know!"

"She wasn't very nice," Choji said, he was sitting down holding a bag of potato chips. "She makes me sick with her attitude!" He looked at the potato chip in his hand and threw it and the bag of chips away and stood up.

"Let's go back home," Katana said, also standing up.

"But what about the village?" Naruto said.

"I don't care," Katana growled and started walking away. "Go help it if you want to. As far as I'm concerned, it can be destroyed."

As Katana walked away, her friends exchanged glances and followed her without a word.

Katana had her head down, her tears drying up. It wasn't her fault. And she was only five!

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Kaya ran through the forest at normal human speed, tears falling from her eyes. She stopped and sat down, her back against a tree. Her hands covered her face. _All this time I thought my sister was dead! And now I find out she's alive but she went and joined a village. Damn it! Kaya you're such an idiot! You're such an IDIOT_!!!!!!!!!!!!

She pulled her head forward and forced it back, slamming it against the tree trunk. She did it again and again and again until she saw blood on her shoulder, running down her arm. She put a hand on the back of her head and brought it to her face, she saw blood all over her hand.

She rested her head on the tree trunk, looking up past the tree leaves and into the night sky, tears pouring down her face.

"Are you okay, child?"

Kaya looked forward and saw a man with a backpack, he was a traveler. But he looked like a bandit.

"I'm fine," Kaya replied.

"You don't look fine," he said and walked over to her. She stood up.

"I'm fine," she repeated but had to hold the back of her head because it started to hurt.

The traveler smiled and suddenly stabbed her in the shoulder with a knife. He pulled it out and she fell to her knees, holding her shoulder.

The man kicked her in the face and she was thrown back and hit the tree. She was breathing hard and she was on her hands and knees, glaring at the man. _What does it matter_? She thought. _Why does it matter if he kills me. I really don't care anymore._

"What's the matter, child. Can't you defend yourself?" he sneered.

Kaya didn't reply, she just sat up and looked at him. He walked over to her and brought up a hand. He threw it down and his fingers hit against her face, sending her sideways.

She was lying on her stomach, her hands on the ground just in front of her.

The man started walking towards her holding a knife.

Kaya coughed and blood came from her mouth. She got up on her hands and knees, shaking, looking at the ground.

"What the?!"

Kaya looked over to the man, he was a few feet away from her, but standing in his way was a boy with red hair and a black cloak with red symbols on it.

"Sasori," Kaya breathed.

"Y-y-you're from the A-A-Akatsuki!!!" the man exclaimed.

Sasori nodded and threw Kaya's cloak to the ground in front of her. "Kaya, you shouldn't go off on your own again. We got worried about you. And you could finish this guy off with one hit, are you alright?"

"No," Kaya said. "I found out some things of my past."

Sasori looked over his shoulder at her before looking back at the man. "You should go."

The man nodded and ran off with fear.

Sasori turned to Kaya and crouched beside her. "So, what happened?"

"I don't want anyone else to know," Kaya said.

"Okay, it'll be between you and me."

Kaya smiled and sat up, her body still shaking. "Those kids that I led away from the village. I'd met the girl before, her name is Katana. And........."

Tears rolled down Kaya's face again and Sasori pulled her into a hug. "And what?"

"Sasori, my sister isn't dead!" Kaya cried and rested her head on his shoulder. "She's alive and I never knew it!"

Sasori was stunned. "So that Katana girl......"

"She's my sister," Kaya whispered.

Sasori hugged her a little tighter. "How did you take it?"

"Terrible! I blamed her for leaving! I said all the wrong things because I was so shocked to figure out my sister was still alive!"

"Damn," Sasori said. "I can't imagine what she would be feeling right now."

"I wish I could take it back! I didn't want to say those things! I want to take it back!"

"I know," Sasori sighed. "But you can't. You can't change the past, but you can fix the future. You need to work things out with your sister."

"But Pain will want to know where I'd be going, and I can't make up the excuse that I would be training."

"We'll figure something out. I'll help you."

"Thank you, Sasori."

Sasori helped Kaya to her feet and put her on his back, carrying her back to their hideout.


	6. Chapter 6

"Kaya, are you alright?" Itachi said calmly when Sasori carried her into the Akatsuki hideout.

"I'm okay," Kaya replied and got off of Sasori's back.

"You're hurt!" Konan said and quickly inspected the young ninja before going and getting some bandages. When she saw the wound in Kaya's shoulder, she sighed. "Come on, child let's go fix that shoulder."

Kaya followed Konan into another room and the rest of the Akatsuki sat on the couch.

"Why does she always get herself into trouble that causes injuries?!" Pain sighed.

"I have no idea," Sasori replied. "But whatever the reason, she's pretty tough to handle it and say she's fine."

Deidara nodded. "She will be a strong ninja one day."

"After her training," Hidan added.

"And how long will her training take?" Kakuzu asked.

"Quite a while," Itachi answered. "She may be strong now but she's not as strong as us yet."

Zetsu nodded. "She could even be stronger than us when her training is finished."

"She'd better not be stronger than us or I'll flatten her!" Hidan joked.

"You will not!" Kaya laughed and hit him over the back of the head.

"Ow," Hidan complained.

"Deal with it," Kaya poked her tongue out.

"I could fight you now you know."

"I know," Kaya smiled. "But you won't."

Hidan stood up and looked down at her with an evil smile.

Kaya looked up at him and smiled back before racing off and hiding behind Sasori.

"Why are you hiding behind me!?" Sasori said as Hidan sat back down. "He's not really gonna fight you."

"Uh.... I knew that," Kaya said and sat next to Deidara.

"Yeah right," Deidara laughed.

"Shut up!" Kaya growled and tackled him off the couch. Everyone laughed. Kaya smiled.

Deidara got up and picked Kaya up.

"Hey! Put me down!!!"

Deidara shrugged and put her on the couch and dodging another tackle.

"Damn it!!!" Kaya grumbled, lying on her stomach on the floor. "You weren't supposed to move."

The others laughed and Kaya rolled on her back, looking up at Deidara who was grinning. She gave him an evil smile and threw her leg forward, knocking Deidara off his feet and he hit the ground, making Kaya crack up laughing, holding her stomach.

"Kaya, take it easy," Itachi said. "You need to rest. Now go get some sleep."

"Aw, but, but, but........"

"No 'buts," Itachi said. "Now get up and go get some sleep."

Kaya put her arms up and waved them around in her 'attempts' to get up. "I can't get up."

"You're not even trying to," Sasori said.

"Shh, I know that!" Kaya replied with a smile.

Hidan got up and cracked his knuckles. Kaya shot right up and hid behind Sasori again, looking at Hidan from over the red-head's shoulder.

Hidan laughed. "Now go get some rest."

Kaya sighed. "Fine," and she turned to walk to her room, dragging her feet and walking slowly.

Itachi shook his head. "She's one funny kid."

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"Katana, get up!"

Katana felt someone nudge her and she put her hand up and waved at the person with a mumble. "Go away..."

"Katana, it's time for training!" Kiba growled. "Now get out of bed, lazy."

"Who are you calling 'lazy'?!?!?!?!?!" Katana grumbled and jumped out of bed, standing and facing Kiba.

"Well that certainly got you up," Kiba smiled. "I should do this more often."

"DON'T YOU DARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Katana growled.

Kiba shrugged. "Come on, we have to meet Kurenai at the training field, remember?"

"Yeah, of course I remember," Katana said with a cold voice and walked with him to her front door. "There's a lot of things I remember."

Kiba sighed. "I'm sure she didn't mean to say what she did."

Katana was silent as they walked out into the village. "Let's drop it."

They joined up with Hinata and Shino and they walked towards the training field in the forest.

"I'm bored!!!!!!!" Katana complained, leaning her back against a training post. "When is she getting here?"

"We only just got here ourselves," Shino said. "You're really impatient."

"I know," Katana sighed, sitting down and patting Akamaru. Kiba was sitting in a tree, Hinata was looking around, Shino was sitting on the grass.

"Hi guys."

They all turned and looked at their sensei as she came towards them. "Did you have a good night sleep?"

"No," Katana mumbled. "I was awake half of last night wasting my time out in the forest."

Kurenai didn't hear it and moved on. "Okay, I want all of you to show me your special Jutsu's before we start training. Hinata, you first."

Hinata looked a little nervous but put her hands together, closing her eyes. "Byakugan!" she said and her eyes snapped open, the veins around her eyes popped out and were clearly visible.

"Whoa!" Katana exclaimed under her breath.

Kurenai nodded. "Very well done, Hinata. Kiba, you're next."

Kiba jumped down from his tree and pulled out a scroll from one of his pockets. He pulled it open, bit his thumb and ran it over the scroll, making a trail of blood. The scroll was quickly rolled up and Kiba made hand-signs with it in between his hands. "Summoning Jutsu!"

A lot of smoke rose up and when it disappeared, there was a lot of dogs by Kiba's side, including Akamaru.

Katana was just a little bit stunned, she didn't expect that.

"Shino," Kurenai said and Shino stood up.

He made hand-signs. "Bug clone Jutsu."

Katana watched with a bit of fright when she saw probably more than 100,000 tiny bugs come out of his shirt. Then they multiplied.

Katana jumped up and hid behind Kiba.

"What's your problem?" Kiba asked her, looking over his shoulder. "Are you scared of bugs or something?"

"No," Katana said sarcastically. "I love bugs, that's why I'm not strolling over there and saying hello to them!!!"

Kiba sighed and watched as the bugs went back into Shino's shirt. Katana went back to Akamaru.

"Katana, your special Jutsu?" Kurenai asked as Katana sat down.

Katana sighed inwardly and stood up again. She thought of which Jutsu's she could use. She didn't have many. She knew that her Water Dragon Jutsu was kinda special and her Armato Sumorata was very special, as it was her Kekkei Genkai.

Kurenai looked at her. "Katana?"

"I'm thinking," Katana replied and thought to herself. _I could use my Armato Sumorata. But then I could risk hurting everybody like I did to Kaya all those years ago. No! I won't risk it. I'll just have to use my Water Dragon Jutsu_.

Katana walked towards the small river beside the Training Field and made hand-signs. "Water style, Water Dragon Jutsu!"

Suddenly, the water started moving in an unnatural way and it rose up, taking the shape of a dragon-like creature with big yellow eyes.

"That's cool," Kiba said and Katana made the dragon disappear into the water again before returning to her friends.

"Okay," Kurenai said. "Now that I know your special abilities, you must each use them against me to defeat me."

"What!?" the four Genin exclaimed.

"You heard me," Kurenai smiled. "You have to defeat me with those techniques."

"Can we use other techniques as well?" Kiba asked.

"No," Kurenai answered. "You have to use the techniques you showed me to defeat me. You will do this task together."

Kurenai suddenly disappeared. Her voice sounded from the trees. "You must work together."

"How can Hinata use her Byakugan?" Katana wondered. "What does it even do?"

Kiba smiled. "We'll show you later. Let's go guys."

Katana followed Kiba, Shino and Hinata through the trees with Akamaru already at Kiba's side.

They jumped through the trees and stopped after a short while.

"Hinata," Kiba said. "I want you to check out a kilometre ahead."

Katana waited anxiously for what was about to happen.

Hinata nodded to Kiba and put her hands together, closing her eyes. "Byakugan!" her eyes snapped open and the veins around her eyes popped out. She stared ahead, making Katana more and more curious as to what was happening.

Hinata's eyes returned to normal. "She's fifty metres ahead."

Kiba nodded and Shino turned to Katana. "Hinata can use her Byakugan to see as far as she wants ahead of her or in a 360 degree circle. But the Byakugan has one blind spot."

Katana nodded blankly, confused.

"Now let's go," Kiba said. "Before Kurenai moves on."

The four teammates jumped through the trees again and stopped when they saw Kurenai looking around. She was near a small stream with the occasional fish jumping out.

"Okay, Shino," Kiba smiled. "Your turn."

Shino nodded and Katana hid behind Kiba as bugs came out of his body. "Bug clone Jutsu," Shino said as he made hand-signs and the bugs multiplied.

Shino pointed ahead and the bugs went straight for Kurenai.

Kiba quickly pulled out his scroll and bit his thumb, running it across the open scroll, making a trail of blood. The scroll rolled up and he made hand-signs with it in his hands. "Summoning Jutsu!"

Katana heard a rumbling in the ground, not sure as to what was going on. Kurenai was fighting and jumping away from the bugs Shino sent after her, she neared the small stream.

Suddenly, holes were made in the ground and dogs jumped out of them and held Kurenai to the spot, not allowing her to get away.

Kiba and the others jumped down and Kiba waited until the bugs returned to Shino's body. "Katana, you're up."

Katana nodded and ran to the stream, quickly making hand-signs, closing her eyes and concentrating. She felt the Chakra flowing through her body. "Water style, Water Dragon Jutsu!"

A small whirlpool formed in the water and it rose up behind Katana, the air around it making her hair sway to one side. The water took the shape of a dragon, its yellow eyes shining.

Katana still had her eyes closed, and her hands didn't break the hand-sign.

The water dragon came crashing down towards Kurenai and hit directly. Water was everywhere and the dogs were gone, Kurenai was on the ground, soaking wet.

"That was well done," Kurenai laughed. "You all did brilliantly."

Katana opened her eyes and let her hands fall to her sides, walking over to them with a smile on her face.

"You guys deserve a break," Kurenai said. "You can take the rest of the day off."

"What!?" Katana complained. "I want to train more!"

"We can train tomorrow."

"Okay," Katana sighed. "But I'm training really hard tomorrow."

Her friends laughed.

"Let's go back to the village," Hinata suggested.

The others nodded.

"Race ya's?" Katana said.

"Yeah, sure," Kiba smiled and the four teammates ran together through the trees and back towards the village.

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Kaya hit the ground hard, lying on her stomach with her hands just in front of her. She looked over her shoulder at Pain, breathing hard and she got up on her hands and knees.

"Kaya, come on, you're not even trying to attack me!" Pain said. "You haven't landed one punch and we've been training all day!"

Kaya sat up, her back turned to him and she quickly made hand-signs.

Pain noticed it and went to attack her but she disappeared. He stopped. "Now where did you go?"

"Right here."

He turned around, she wasn't there.

Suddenly, his feet were knocked from under him and and was kicked in the back, thrown forwards and hitting a tree.

"How was that?" Kaya asked.

Pain got up. "That was good, young Kaya. Now, show me that it wasn't a fluke."

_What_!?!?!?! Kaya thought. _Damn he's a tough trainer. He's the strongest of the Akatsuki and he expects me to be able to defeat him_?!?!

She sighed, she had one trick that could take him down. But she would need to get him distracted so she could focus enough Chakra to do it. She made hand-signs and a clone appeared, she disappeared.

Her clone went for Pain and they fought. Meanwhile, Kaya was making hand-signs, thinking of the twelve animal signs that made up the Jutsu. _Rat, Bull, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Boar._

Kaya's clone was defeated and she jumped down from the tree, holding her hands in the last hand-sign. She knew Pain had not seen this Jutsu, but by the expression in his eyes, he was trying to figure it out. _Too bad he's going to find out too late_, she thought.

"What Jutsu is that?" Pain asked.

"Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

Pain was shocked when Kaya became a log. He turned around just in time to see a massive ball of fire escape from Kaya's hands as she blew out her breath and it took the form of a dragon, its yellow eyes shining down at Pain.

In an instant, it came crashing down towards him.

He jumped up as it crashed to the ground. He laughed. "Nice try, Kaya."

Kaya smiled. "I know."

Pain frowned as he saw the smile but didn't have time to dodge the next fire dragon that hit him from behind. He fell on his back and blinked, looking up at a smiling Kaya standing over him. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"It's called the _Twin_ Dragon Jutsu, in case you missed it," Kaya grinned. "Meaning one fire dragon was waiting to strike, seeing as the first dragon was an open, far-ranged attack and easy to avoid."

"Very clever," he breathed and Kaya walked towards his feet and put her hands out. He took them and she helped him up, but he was wobbly on his feet. "Let's go back to the hideout." He tried walking but he stumbled a little.

Kaya sighed and put his arm over her shoulder, slowly walking and helping him. They slowly made their way back to their hideout.

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"Whoa, for once, Kaya's not the one being helped back home!"

"Shut up," Pain said and sat down on the couch, Kaya sat beside him. "It was a tough training session, okay."

"Who won?" Hidan asked.

"Me!" Kaya smiled, putting her hand up like a child.

The others looked like stunned rabbits. "You beat _Pain_!?!?!"

"Yep," Kaya said and leaned back, putting her hands behind her head. "With a Jutsu he's never seen before."

"And what Jutsu would that be?" Sasori asked.

"It's called the Twin Dragon Jutsu," Kaya explained. "The first Fire Dragon is let loose as an open, far-ranged attack, making it easy to avoid. While the defender is distracted dodging the first Fire Dragon, the second one comes up and attacks from behind when the defender least expects it. As Pain figured out today."

Pain put a hand on her head. "You did well, kid. You're getting stronger all the time. It's been months since you were misbehaving and running away from your training. You didn't even run off on me, even though I wouldn't be able to catch you."

Kaya smiled. "I finally understand that running off and messing around won't get me any stronger. If I want to be a strong ninja like all of you, then I need to train."

"She's also getting smarter," Sasori joked.

Kaya looked at him and stood up, walking over to him. He looked scared for a moment but she smiled. "That must mean I'm smarter than you now."

"Hey!" Sasori said and jumped up.

Kaya poked her tongue out at him and ran for it.

"Deidara, help me out," Sasori said and Deidara got up and reached the front door before Kaya could.

Kaya skidded to a stop and jumped out of the way before he could grab her. She ran for the back door, Sasori had his arms crossed leaning his back against it.

"Damn it!" Kaya complained but smiled. She ran to the side and jumped out the window, landing in a crouch position from the two story fall.

"Get back here, Kaya!" Sasori said and Kaya ran for it through the trees. She stopped at a nearby stream and caught her breath, wondering if Sasori and Deidara would find her.

Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and picked up, being taken closer and closer to the stream.

"Oh crap!" Kaya said and turned around, looking at Sasori. "Are you gonna throw me in the water?"

"Maybe," Sasori smiled.

Kaya was let go and she fell towards the stream. She quickly grabbed Sasori's hands and pulled him in with her.

Kaya was under the water for a few moments before breaking the surface and looking up at Deidara, who was smiling. "Having fun there?"

"Yeah," Kaya replied and put her hand up. "Now help me out."

Deidara grabbed her hand and was about to help her out of the water but she pulled him in, laughing as he and Sasori were soaked. She climbed out quickly and grinned. "See ya."

"What!?"

Kaya took off her cloak and ran off at lightning speed, laughing as she went.

She continued to run through the trees, laughing, knowing that Sasori and Deidara wouldn't be able to catch her. The only person that _could_ catch her was....

"Hi, Hidan," Kaya mumbled as she was lifted off the ground by the back of her shirt.

"You know I can catch you," Hidan smiled.

"You suck!" Kaya growled. "You always spoil my fun! Just because you are as fast as me."

Suddenly, Sasori and Deidara came out of the trees, soaking wet and exhausted.

"Hi guys," Kaya smiled. "Did you have a nice swim?"

"No, thanks for asking," Sasori grumbled. Kaya knew he wasn't really mad. She and him had always been close, ever since the day she joined the Akatsuki all those years ago. He had been the one who calmed her fears and he was the first member that she trusted.

"Let's get you back to the hideout," Hidan said.

"Why?" Kaya complained. "You'd better not tell me I need to rest."

"Okay...." Hidan sighed. "We won't tell you then."

"You always want me to rest after training! I don't want to rest, I want to keep training!"

"But you can't over do it. You know what happened last time you did that," Sasori said.

Kaya sighed. "I know. I got a really high fever and I was all sick and stuff. But I want to get stronger!"

"Yeah, and you will," Deidara said. "And you have plenty more years to train and get stronger."

"But, but, but....." Kaya tried the puppy dog eyes and the puppy pout. She knew it worked on Pain.

"No 'buts'," Hidan said. "The puppy eyes don't work on me. And even if you don't want to go back. I've still got you by the shirt."

"Damn it," Kaya mumbled under her breath as Hidan carried her back to the hideout and she crossed her arms, grumbling all the way back.


	7. Chapter 7

"OW!"

"Well that's what you get from leaning to far over a tree branch from so high up," Kiba laughed.

"Shut up!" Katana grumbled, looking up at him whilst on her stomach with her hands in front of her.

Kiba sighed and put a hand out to help her. Katana took it but didn't thank him. She turned and started to walk over to where Shino and Hinata were training.

"A 'thank you' might have been nicer," Kiba said.

"Meh," Katana waved a hand behind her. "Too much effort."

Kiba shook his head. "You're way too confusing."

"I know," Katana smiled, turning around with a smile on her face. "That's the best part."

Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Hey, I saw that!"

"You were supposed to-"

Kiba was knocked to the ground as Katana tackled him. He was on his back, looking up at her sitting calmly on his stomach with a big grin on her face.

He glared at her.

She blinked at him. "What did I do?"

"What do you think?!" Kiba growled. "Now get off of me!"

Katana put a finger on her chin and looked away with a thoughtful look in her eyes. Then she looked back at him. "Nah, way too much effort."

Kiba shrugged, as best he could, and got up, lifting her up in his arms.

"Hey!!!!!" Katana exclaimed. "Put me down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kiba cringed. "You don't have to yell."

"Well you picked me up," Katana said. "Now..... PUT ME DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Kiba cringed and dropped her accidentally and fell to his knees, his mind spinning from the sudden headache he received.

Katana sat up and poked her tongue out at him. She stood up and walked off, leaving Akamaru to walk over to his friend and sniff his face, asking what was wrong.

Kiba looked at Akamaru before standing up and they went to follow Katana.

The end of the day came and the teammates were sitting down together on the grass with Kurenai standing in front of them. "You all did well today," she smiled. "But tomorrow, Katana, no slacking off and messing around tackling Kiba."

Katana crossed her arms and had a stubborn look on her face. "Fine," she muttered.

"You can go back to the village now," Kurenai said and Katana jumped up.

Kiba got up to. "Hey, Katana. Wanna go get some Ramen tonight?"

Katana spun around. "Ramen?" she said in a cute, quiet, hyperactive voice.

Kiba nodded.

"Sure," Katana said with a calm expression, making Kiba step back a little. "Do you wanna race back to the village though?"

Kiba shrugged. "Alright. But don't think I wont go easy on you."

Katana smiled and they started racing, but then Kiba growled. "Damn, I forgot about that."

Katana grinned. "I'll wait at the front gates for you." Katana sped up and raced through the forest with her lightning speed, leaving Kiba running by himself with Akamaru by his side.

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"What took ya?"

Kiba stopped and collapsed to his knees in front of Katana who was sitting down calmly, blinking at him.

"I've been waiting for ages," Katana murmured. "You run too slow."

"No..." Kiba breathed. "You just run too fast because of your Clan's Lightning Speed inheritance."

Katana shrugged. "Your point being?"

"Never mind," he sighed and stood up when he caught his breath. "Let's go to the Ramen store."

Katana jumped up and smiled. The two of them walked through the village together with Akamaru and they reached the Ramen store.

They sat down and Kiba called to the store owner. "Hey, Teuchi, two bowls of Ramen please."

The store owner smiled and within a minute, Katana had a bowl of Ramen in front of her.

She started eating and Kiba paid for it before chowing down himself.

Katana finished it and looked at the empty bowl. Kiba smiled. "Teuchi, another bowl for Katana please."

Katana looked at him. "Thanks, Kiba."

"No worries," Kiba replied, smiling at her. "You know, Katana. Kurenai trains you pretty hard."

"Yeah, but it's alright," Katana said. "I want to get stronger. I want to be a great ninja one day, protecting this village and everyone in it."

Kiba nodded. "That's understandable."

Katana nodded. "But you train pretty hard too. You and Akamaru are a great team."

"Yeah, I can combine our strengths with certain Jutsu's. But I don't train that hard. Not as hard as you anyway."

"You couldn't even beat me in a fight," Katana poked her tongue out at him. "You can't even dodge a tackle from me."

"Yeah, but I can still pick you up."

"Shut up. You only did that to get me off of you. But I made you put me down, by yelling in your ear."

"Which hurt," Kiba added. "You're nice aren't you."

"Of course I am," Katana smiled, making Kiba look at her as if she was nuts. "I am the nicest person you will ever meet."

"Well, if you're a nice person, I wonder what a mean person is like- Ow."

Katana held her hand in the air for a little bit longer before finishing her Ramen.

When they were full, Kiba paid for the rest of the food and they walked through the village, the sky was getting dark.

They reached Katana's house and she smiled at him. "Thanks for dinner. It was yummy."

"Well I knew you liked Ramen so I thought I might take you there," Kiba replied. "But the Ramen was a bit spicy."

Katana laughed. "It takes a while to get used to. Do you want a drink?"

Kiba nodded. "Yes please."

Katana led Kiba upstairs and into the kitchen. He sat down at the table, Akamaru went walking around the house, sniffing everything that was new to him.

Katana went into the fridge and pulled out some water. She grabbed a glass and gave it to him, filling it up with the water.

"Thanks," Kiba said and drank it. He looked around. "This is a pretty nice place."

"Yep," Katana smiled. "And it's all mine."

Kiba laughed at her childish tone. "You're always acting like a kid."

"I know," Katana jumped around in a circle before stopping and looking at his confused stare. "What?"

Kiba shook his head. "Nothing. You're just one of the strangest girls I have ever met."

"That just proves I'm special," Katana grinned, making Kiba laugh.

He stood up. "I should get going."

Katana nodded and walked him to the door.

"Akamaru!" Kiba called and the small puppy came bolting out of Katana's room with a shoe in his mouth.

"Hey, that's my shoe!" Katana exclaimed with a childish voice and Akamaru nodded, placing it on the ground in front of her before running out the door.

Katana stepped forward but tripped on the shoe. Kiba quickly turned around and caught her. "You're not supposed to trip you know."

"I know that," Katana said and quickly stood up, a little red in the face. "I didn't notice the shoe was there."

"Well Akamaru did put it at your feet," Kiba smiled. "You trip over everything."

"I do not!" Katana said. "So maybe I've tripped over a shoe, and a stick, and a rock, and Akamaru, accidentally, and-"

"Absolutely nothing," Kiba finished.

"................. I was bored okay, it was on purpose."

"Yeah, right," Kiba cocked an eyebrow at her.

Katana shrugged. "Good night, Kiba."

"Good night, Katana," Kiba said and leaned forward unexpectedly and kinda shocking Katana. She just stood there and her whole body froze when he kissed her. She didn't know he felt that way about her, it was quite a shock.

Kiba stood up straight and watched as her face went bright red. "Uh..........." she mumbled.

Kiba was a little stunned by her reaction. "See ya tomorrow," he said and turned before walking down the stairs and into the village, leaving Katana standing at her front door, red in the face, and very, _very_ embarrassed. _Did he just_......... she thought. _Oh god_!

Katana slowly shut her door and walked towards her room, making sure she didn't trip over the shoe. She lay down on her bed and looked at the ceiling with her hands behind her head. _I didn't know Kiba felt that way. He was always looking at me and all but I never expected this. And what's going to happen now? Will this change our friendship? And I don't even know about my feelings towards him. Could I possibly like him as well? I don't know, but I'll figure it out eventually. That's for sure_.

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"Katana, get up!"

"Meh," Katana mumbled. "I don't wanna......."

Kiba sighed. "Get up, lazy."

"Say what you like," Katana mumbled. "I'm not getting up. Too tired."

Kiba rolled his eyes and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Meanie," Katana grumbled, punching his back.

"That didn't hurt," Kiba said to her.

"Oh, you want me to hurt you?" Katana smiled.

"Wait, what-"

_SLAM_!!!

Katana sat up, cross-legged and blinked at Kiba lying on his stomach in front of her. "Whoopsies. Your fault."

"I didn't know you could hit that hard!" Kiba said, trying to get up and failed. "Did you break my back or something?!"

"I don't know," Katana said. "I just used my Super Strength inheritance-"

"Your _**WHAT**_!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Kiba shot up and Katana heard a sharp, loud click from his spine as it popped back into place.

"I didn't tell you?" Katana looked away and stood up, quickly walking towards the door. "My bad. See ya!"

Kiba grabbed her.

"He.. he..." Katana laughed nervously and he pulled her back. "I thought I told you."

"Well you didn't," he said.

Katana rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, well...... uh............" She tried to run but Kiba pulled her back, unfortunately, she ran into him and knocked him over, and herself, and Kiba grumbled. "Get off of me. You're heavy."

"Well in that case," Katana smiled. "I'm not moving."

Kiba sighed and tried moving her, having no luck. Then he looked at her hands, which were on the ground on each side of her, glowing blue. "You're holding the ground with your Chakra aren't you?" he growled.

"Yep," Katana said simply with a big grin on her face. "And I don't plan on getting up. I could sleep here. You're comfy."

Kiba rolled his eyes and noticed Akamaru walk in, take one look at them, and back out of the room with a stunned look on his face. Kiba looked back up at Katana, blowing some of her hair off of his face. Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

Katana flinched. "What are you doing?" she asked in a shocked voice.

"Hugging you," he said.

"Why?"

"Because you won't get up."

"And that's a reason to hug me........ why?"

"I don't know."

"..................................................................................What are you guys doing?"

Kiba and Katana snapped their gazes at the doorway and saw Shino and Hinata there, as well as Shikamaru, Choji, Naruto, Tenten, Rock Lee, Neji, and Sasuke. Not to mention, Ino and Sakura. Akamaru poked his head around the doorway.

"Uh..................." Kiba and Katana said before Katana took her hands away from the floor and made hand-signs.

Suddenly, Katana became invisible and Kiba felt her weight disappear, listening to her footsteps heading for the window.

She became visible again and she stopped in her tracks, glancing over her shoulder at everyone before continuing to creep to the window.

"Katana, where are you going?" Naruto asked.

Katana stopped again. "You can see me?"

"Uh... yeah, your Invisibility Jutsu failed," Sasuke said.

"What happened between you two?" Shino asked.

"Nothing," Katana said and reached the window, looking down the three story drop, wondering whether she should jump or quickly bolt for the door.

"Katana, don't jump out the window," Kiba said, getting up.

Katana wasn't paying attention. In a second, she wasn't even at the window.

"Where did she go now?" Sakura said.

"This is way better than my Invisibility Jutsu!"

Everyone turned around and saw Katana at the front door.

"I forgot about that," Shikamaru sighed.

"Katana, hang on a second," Naruto said. "Our three squads are going on a mission today."

"A mission?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" Katana spun around, her eyes shining, scaring her friends.

"Yes," came a voice and a hand was on her shoulder. Katana looked at the hand before looking past it and blinking at Squad 7's leader, Kakashi Hatake. "Your mission is ranked at C level."

"Really!?" Katana exclaimed. "What are we doing?!"

"You will be bodyguards for a villager and travel to the Ryoku Village that was attacked a while ago by the Akatsuki. You will be helping to rebuild it. You shouldn't run into trouble of any kind."

"That's good," Sakura breathed. "So we won't run into any enemy ninja."

"No," Kakashi replied. "Kurenai and Asuma will not be coming. But I will."

"Cool!" Naruto exclaimed.

"But someone else is coming to," Kakashi smiled, making Naruto stop jumping around and blink at his sensei.

"Who?" Sasuke asked.

"Ebisu-"

"THAT CLOSET PERVERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????????????????" Naruto and Katana yelled with disbelief. "ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

Kakashi shrugged and closed his book.

"What kind of book is it anyway?" Katana asked, suddenly fascinated with the book, forgetting about Ebisu.

"You don't want to know," Kakashi said and put it in his other hand, blinking at the young kunoichi as she stared at the book.

Katana turned around, still blinking at the book with curious eyes.

Suddenly, her hand snapped forward and she grabbed the book, taking it out of his hand and opening it, reading it and turned back around. She read at least a chapter and froze, her eyes wide with shock, she also looked a little grossed out.

Kakashi put a hand on the book and took it out of her hands. "I told you you didn't want to know."

"Uh, Kakashi?" Katana said.

"Yeah?"

"Are you a pervert to?"

Everyone looked at Katana before looking at Kakashi. "What was in that book?" Naruto asked.

Katana blinked at him before ignoring the question and looking at Kakashi. "Are you?"

Kakashi didn't reply. "Come on you lot, the Hokage will be waiting for us to greet the villager."

Kakashi turned and left, leaving Katana with her arms crossed and a stubborn look on her face. "I'm not going to let this go," she muttered but followed, so did the others.

They walked through the village and reached the Hokage's building. They went inside and into a large room, waiting for the villager.

"Who's the villager?" Naruto asked.

"You will find out in a moment," the Hokage said. "Send in our guest."

The door behind them opened up and everyone looked at a guy with a bottle of Sake in his hand. He looked drunk. "What? A bunch of kids are going to help rebuild my village? And what about the medium height female with a stubborn look on her face, you actually expect me to believe that you're a ninja?"

Katana looked around. "Who's the medium height female with a stubborn look on her-" she watched as Ino stood on one side of her and Sakura stood on her other side, Ino was a little taller and Sakura was a little shorter. Hinata joined them, she was the same height as Sakura.

Katana realized the height difference and crossed her arms for a moment with an angry expression. She ran forward but Kakashi grabbed her by the back of the shirt.

"Let me go! I'll demolish him! Let me at him!" Katana yelled.

"You can't demolish the client, Katana, that's not how it works," Kakashi said.

"I don't care!" Katana yelled. "He's mine, let me go! I'll demolish him!!!!!"

The villager didn't look the least bit afraid. "I want you to return me to my village that is only a days walk from here. I want you to protect me and help rebuild the village that was destroyed by the Akatsuki."

Katana sat down with Kakashi still holding her and she crossed her arms. _Why do we have to guard this old drunken geezer!? I can't believe this_!

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"Kaya!!!!!"

"What?"

Kaya walked into the lounge room. "Whatever it was, it wasn't me. I swear."

Kaya blinked at Deidara, covered in mud. He glared at her and she grinned nervously. She had been running away from him, without the others knowing, and she had tricked him and pushed him in the mud before running back to the hideout and snuck into her room.

"You pushed me in the mud," Deidara growled.

"I didn't do it," Kaya said, looking away. "I've been here the whole time."

Pain came into the room and stopped, looking at Deidara. "Kaya what did you do?"

"Nothing!" Kaya replied. "I swear! I didn't run off on Deidara and hide on a tree branch near a mud hole and jump on Deidara's back and make him fall in the mud- Whoops."

She looked at Deidara.

_Well I could just run away_, she thought. _Hidan is out on guard somewhere far out so I won't get caught_.

"Kaya....." Deidara growled. "You're so _dead_!!!!!!"

Deidara ran at her but she turned and bolted for her room. She stopped and turned to face him. When he was just at the doorway, she slammed the door shut with her super strength. She heard a loud slam, took her cloak off, and ran for her window before Deidara recovered from his daze and got even more mad at her. She jumped down from her window and bolted off, using her lightning speed. At least she was sure that Hidan wasn't going to catch her this time.

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"Naruto, Sasuke, wait up!"

Katana was walking next to Hinata, watching Naruto trying to walk faster than Sasuke. But Katana knew that Sasuke's reason for walking fast was because he didn't want to walk with the group because of two certain, annoying, love-sick girls.

Katana was on one side of the group, making sure she wasn't anywhere near the villager. She didn't like him one bit!

"Mr. Kuramu?" Rock Lee said, trying to resist a glance at Sakura.

"What?" Kuramu growled, drinking more of his Sake.

"How much longer until we get to your village?"

"When we reach the top of this hill you should be able to see it," he replied.

Katana glanced at him and ran up the hill, quickly passing Naruto and Sasuke. She reached the top and saw a damaged village in the distance. Something caught her eye though, a massive amount of dirt rising up in a straight line above the trees, racing towards the village. But then it stopped and turned in a different direction, towards the group of traveling ninja and old geezer. She froze, and tried to figure out what it was. But it stopped and Katana waited a moment. _What was that_?

"What's up, Katana?" Naruto asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "The village doesn't look as bad as it did when we saw it getting attacked."

Katana shook her head. They didn't see it. Only she did. "Yeah, I know," she lied a little. "But we still have to rebuild it, no matter how damaged it looks."

The others joined them and they continued down the hill and towards the village. Katana was just a little bit edgy, telling Naruto and Sasuke to stay with the group, just in case. They did as she told them but Sasuke didn't like it, having Sakura on one side of him and Ino on the other side, arguing to each other over Sasuke.

Katana rolled her eyes but kept looking around, they were near the place where the dirt trail stopped. She was just a little bit scared, she hated when she didn't know what the enemy looked like, or if the 'enemy' was even a threat.

Katana growled as she started to get a headache from Sakura and Ino arguing with each other. She clenched her fists. "Just shut up would ya!!!!!!!!!" she growled fiercely at them, making them look back at her with scared expressions. "You're the biggest headaches in this whole entire world!!!!!!!"

The two of them shut up but continued to walk beside Sasuke.

"Sakura," Rock Lee said. Sakura looked over her shoulder at him. "Why not walk with me instead?"

"Back off," Sakura said and kept walking.

"She's never going to go out with you, Bushy Brow," Naruto said. "She's more interested in Sasuke."

Rock Lee sighed and kept walking next to Tenten and Neji.

Katana caught Hinata looking at Naruto, her face just a little bit red. "Why are you blushing, Hinata?" Katana asked.

Hinata looked away from Naruto. "What?"

Katana repeated her question.

"I..... uh......" Hinata went even more red in the face. "No reason."

Katana rolled her eyes. _Everybody likes __somebody_ _here! Naruto likes Sakura, Rock Lee likes Sakura, Ino and Sakura like Sasuke, Hinata likes Naruto, Tenten seems to like Neji, somewhat, and Kiba likes me. I don't know about Shino though. I wonder who he likes. And also, what makes things worse, I have to put up with pervy-sensei's for a few days as well as the stupid drunken villager! Fun for me_!

She suddenly turned to Kakashi. "So........... are you going to answer my question?"

"What question?" Kakashi asked her.

"I asked you earlier if you were a pervert," Katana said. "But you didn't answer it."

"I am not a pervert," Kakashi replied.

_Yeah, right_!

Katana looked at Ebisu. "I know you're a pervert so I'm not gonna bother asking you."

"You're a very rude kid," Kuramu growled to her.

"And you're a very rude old man," Katana growled back.

"Everyone, stop!" Kakashi said suddenly.

Katana was suddenly alert and everyone stopped in their tracks. Kakashi walked forward and looked down at a piece of brown cloth. He picked it up.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"It's a piece of someone's clothing," Kakashi replied, looking at it. "And the person it belongs to has been here very recently."

"How do you know?" Tenten asked.

"Because a strong wind is blowing and it could easily have blown away. The person must be nearby."

Katana looked at the brown cloth that Kakashi was holding and thought for a moment. She looked around, hoping her guess was incorrect. She didn't want to speak to the person she assumed it would be.

"We should keep moving," Ebisu said. "The village isn't far from here."

"You just want to get there so you can meet all the women," Naruto grumbled.

Ebisu glared at him. "How could you think such a thing?!"

"Easily, you closet pervert," Naruto replied.

Ebisu shook his head and the group moved on, although Kakashi was a little more alert now, still holding the brown piece of cloth.

Katana heard a rustling in the bushes and looked around, hoping that they wouldn't come face to face with the owner of the cloth.

Naruto heard it to and pulled out a kunai, throwing it through the bushes.

"OW!"

"What was that!?" Sakura asked, scared, and held onto Sasuke's arm.

"Get off of me!" Sasuke said, but Sakura stayed clinging onto his arm, she was scared as hell.

Katana growled, she recognized the voice.

Suddenly, a girl with long black hair stumbled out of the bushes, holding her left arm and Naruto's kunai in her left hand. She threw it to the ground in front of him. "Thanks a lot!"

"It's you!" Naruto exclaimed. Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Naruto, Sasuke and Katana blinked at the girl. She had a black shirt with a hood and brown pants with a kunai pocket on her left leg and a shuriken pouch on the right side of her waist. It was Katana's sister, Kaya. Katana wasn't happy to see her sister, not after what she had said a while ago the night the Ryoku Village got attacked. Kaya had blamed her for abandoning her when they were kids, when it wasn't her fault. Kaya had been so mad at Katana that she took off.

"Who are you?" Kakashi asked but then looked at her brown pants, near her feet, a small bit of cloth was missing. It was Kaya that was the owner of the cloth.

"My name is Kaya," she replied. "Hasn't Katana said anything?"

"No," Kakashi looked at the young ninja. "Who is this child? Where is she from?"

"That is my sister," Katana spat. "She was still at the village when our Clan got destroyed. Apparently, a bunch of powerful ninja took her in and is training her to be a really strong ninja."

"Powerful ninja?" Ebisu said, casting a glance at Kaya. "Who are they?"

"I can't say," Kaya said. "But I was actually wondering if I could speak with my sister."

Kakashi looked at Katana, expecting her to go walking off with this new kid. But she remained fixed to the spot. "Get out of here, Kaya. We're on a mission and we don't need you getting in the way."

Kaya sighed and looked at the ground, she had been expecting that kind of reply. "Katana, look. I'm sorry. I was confused and I didn't know what I was saying. I didn't mean to say what I did. Please believe me."

Katana looked at Kaya and looked away. "What are you even doing here, Kaya? Shouldn't you be training with the S-ranked ninja who are training you?"

"S-ranked ninja!?" Kakashi exclaimed, suddenly deep in thought. He looked at Kaya. "Kid?"

Kaya looked at him, she didn't look afraid, even though she was surrounded by ninja that she wouldn't have a chance against.

"Have you heard of the Akatsuki?" Kakashi asked her.

Kaya flinched and thought for a moment. "Yes. The ninja I stay with told me about them. They're also S-ranked and they're merciless, cold-blooded killers."

Kakashi looked at her, he had never heard of a group of ninja that was S-ranked, apart from the Akatsuki.

"Look, Kaya. Just leave, alright!" Katana growled. "We have a job to do."

Katana kept walking through the forest and the others followed, all but Sasuke, and Sakura hanging off of his arm.

"Sakura, let me go," Sasuke said. "Go catch up with the others."

Sakura was confused but did as Sasuke told her and ran after her friends.

"Kaya, you know that your sister was really upset after what you said to her," Sasuke said to the female ninja when the others were out of sight.

"I know," Kaya dropped her head. "But I didn't realize what I was saying at that point. I really wanted to fix things."

Sasuke looked at the sad expression on her face and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. Maybe if you catch her in a good mood or something like that you could try speaking to her again."

Kaya shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

Sasuke smiled. "I have to go. We have a mission to complete."

"What kind of mission is it?" Kaya asked, suddenly interested.

"We have to help rebuild the village that was destroyed by the Akatsuki," Sasuke said and Kaya flinched when he said the word _Akatsuki_ with such bitterness.

"What do you have against the Akatsuki?" Kaya asked.

Sasuke was silent. He turned around. "Nothing. It doesn't concern you. You should go back to your ninja friends."

Kaya watched as Sasuke started walking away. When he was out of sight she smiled before running after him.

She reached them but stayed out of sight, she looked at the villager and was shocked to remember him. He was one of the villagers that she attacked but he escaped. _Stupid villager_! She thought. _Seeking help from ninja to rebuild your stupid village! I reckon Pain would want to know about this. I'll tell him later, maybe_.

Kaya heard Kakashi sigh. "Why are you following us?"

Kaya was just a little bit stunned. _How_!?!?!?! Kaya was so busy wondering how he had realized she was following that she walked right into a tree trunk. "OW!" She fell backwards and listened to footsteps getting louder and louder.

She had her arms crossed and she saw everyone looking down at her with confusement.

"Well?" Kakashi said.

Kaya sighed. "I want to help you rebuild the village." As soon as she said it, she knew that if Pain found out, he would be mad. She would have to make up some sort of story.

"Why would you want to help us?" Ebisu asked, sounding as if he didn't trust her.

"I was near the village when it was attacked by the Akatsuki," Kaya said, casting a glance at Katana. "I didn't help it then and I want to help it now."

"I say she should just go home," Katana growled. "She wasn't assigned this mission. She's not even a ninja from a village."

"Katana," Kaya breathed under her breath.

"I don't know, Katana," Sasuke said, looking at Kaya. "The village will take a while to be rebuilt and the more hands, the quicker it gets done. And she's offering to help."

"But what about the ninja that she's staying with?" Katana challenged. "What if they show up, looking for her, and decide that the village should be attacked?"

"They wouldn't do that!" Kaya growled.

"Stop arguing," Neji interrupted. "It's up to the Jonin, not you."

They all looked at Ebisu and Kakashi with curious eyes. Ebisu looked at Kakashi. "It's up to you."

Kakashi looked at Kaya, thinking about her offer. He didn't yet know if she was trustworthy, he had some suspicions that he would keep to himself. He shrugged. "Alright, Kaya. You can come along and help us."

Katana looked as if she wanted to object but kept her mouth shut. Kaya looked at Sasuke and Neji, who weren't displeased like Katana.

The group moved on and Kaya walked with them, beside Sasuke, ignoring the glares she got from Sakura and Ino which confused her. She knew that she would get into trouble with the Akatsuki for helping a village but she wanted to take this chance to see if she could talk things over with her sister and actually spend some time with her. She looked over her shoulder at Katana who had her arms crossed and an angry look on her face as she looked at the ground.

They reached the village and walked through it, looking at the destruction that Kaya and the rest of the Akatsuki caused. She looked at a balcony that Deidara had blown up with a clay insect. She smiled as she looked at the damage that was caused.

"Why are you smiling?" Ino said to her.

Kaya shook her head. "I-I-I was just thinking of how great this place will look after we've helped build it up."

Ino looked at her with confusion as if she didn't believe her before walking off to join Sakura.

"So, what where do we start, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Where ever I suppose," Kakashi shrugged.

Kuramu looked at them. "Let's go to my house first, you can rest until tomorrow."

Kaya watched as the village ninja followed the villager down a pathway. She didn't follow.

Neji turned around. "Aren't you coming?"

"If we're not starting until tomorrow then I'd better come back tomorrow," Kaya explained.

"Oh no you don't," Ebisu growled. "You're coming with us. You could go to your ninja friends and tell them what's happening."

Kaya was wide eyed with shock. The rebuilding of the village could take days and the Akatsuki would get worried about her and come in search for her. Which would increase the possibility of the village getting attacked again.

"Ebisu," Kakashi said. "I say that she should come back tomorrow, she can't be forced to stay here or her ninja friends will come looking for her and thinking we're holding her hostage."

Ebisu looked at him, Kakashi had a glint in his eye. He nodded. "Alright, kid. But don't tell your ninja friends about the village."

Kaya nodded and turned around. She ran off out of the gates of the village and Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Follow her and report back."

Naruto was a little nervous. "Alone?"

Kakashi sighed. "Sasuke can go with you then."

Naruto growled but Sasuke was already walking out of the village, waiting for Naruto to catch up so they could run. Naruto grumbled under his breath and ran after Sasuke, then they were gone from the village in pursuit of Kaya.

Katana kept walking after the villager, Kuramu, she was tired, and hungry. The others followed.


	8. Chapter 8

Kaya ran through the forest, she wondered if she should tell at least one of the Akatsuki.

"Kaya!"

Kaya stopped and looked around. She recognized the voice and he walked out of the bushes. She sighed. "Hi, Sasori."

"Kaya, you'll never guess," Sasori smiled.

Kaya tilted her head. "What?"

"I went to your old village," Sasori explained. "I had a look around."

"Really?" Kaya was shocked. Sasori actually went to her old village? "Why?"

"I don't know. But I found something. I think it was the Kasuma Clan symbol."

Kaya's body felt like it shut down and Sasori pulled out a necklace, a silver chain with a circle on it, half white and half black.

She watched as Sasori went behind her and put it around her neck. "It's the Yin Yang sign," she said.

Sasori nodded. "I found it near the place where we found you all those years ago."

Kaya smiled. "Thank you, Sasori," she said as she looked at it.

Sasori was suddenly alert. "I can sense someone's Chakra."

Kaya focused and she was able to sense it to. Sasori had taught her how to sense Chakra and she was nearly as good as him at it. There were two people, with Chakra she had never encountered but she knew who they were.

"Sasori, take your cloak off," Kaya murmured.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Sasori shrugged and took it off, Kaya took it and hid it in a bush. After a few moments, Kaya breathed. "Sasuke, Naruto, you can come out now. I know you're there."

Sasori watched as two boys came out of the bushes and they blinked at him. Kaya stood beside Sasori.

"Who's this?" Naruto asked Kaya.

"This is Sasori," Kaya explained. "One of the ninja that took me in a while back."

"Kaya, are these the people who were with your sister that night?" Sasori asked.

Kaya nodded. "Sasori, this is Sasuke and Naruto."

Sasori was a little shocked to see Sasuke, Kaya wondered why. She shook her head.

"Why are they here?"

Kaya turned to them. "Why _are_ you here?"

"Uhh......." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Kakashi told us to follow you," Sasuke answered. "Just in case you might tell your ninja friends that we were rebuilding the village and could be open to attack."

Sasori looked at Kaya, she looked back at him. "There are ninja rebuilding the village of Ryoku that was attacked not long ago," Kaya explained. "I know it was stupid but I offered to help."

Sasori rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"My sister is among them," Kaya added.

"Oh......" Sasori sighed. "You know Pain won't like this."

Kaya looked at Sasuke and Naruto before whispering to Sasori. "I don't want Pain to know. He might decide to attack them. And this could be an opportunity to fix things with my sister."

Sasori nodded. "Alright, but what story are we going to tell him?"

"Well the rebuilding will take at least a few days so we could say that you'd be training me," Kaya smiled. "Besides, all this rebuilding could get me a little stronger."

"Of course," Sasori said. "Let's hope it works."

"What's going on?" Naruto interrupted.

Kaya turned to him. "Only Sasori and I will know of the village rebuilding. The others won't be notified."

"But won't your absence get them wondering where you are?" Sasuke added.

"I will tell them that she's training with me," Sasori replied.

Kaya thought for a moment. "Sasori, why don't you help us?"

Sasori looked at her as if she was crazy. "What!?"

"You could help with the rebuilding. Then you wouldn't have to be bored all day for a few days and when we both go back to the others we would both look tired-"

Sasori leaned down and his face was an inch from hers. "Kaya, the villagers might not have recognized you, but they would recognize me."

"No they won't," Kaya whispered back. "Please Sasori."

Sasori looked into her puppy dog eyes and sighed. "Alright, we'll give it a go."

"Yay!" Kaya shouted. She turned to Naruto and Sasuke. "Tell Kakashi that there will be a new helper tomorrow."

Sasuke and Naruto hesitated but nodded. "See ya tomorrow, Kaya," Sasuke said and they turned and left.

Kaya breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Sasori, only to find him with his arms crossed, looking down at her. "I'm sorry, Sasori," she said, dropping her head. "But I don't want to do this alone, being the only Akatsuki member among them."

Sasori sighed and put a hand on her head. "It's alright, Kaya. But they don't know that you're an Akatsuki, do they?"

Kaya shook her head, making his arm move.

"We'll work a way around this," he said. "But for now, let's get back home."

Kaya nodded and waited for Sasori to get his cloak. Without the cloak he had a black, netted shirt with black pants. He put the cloak back on and they walked through the forest, back to their hideout. Eventually, Kaya got bored of walking and jumped on Sasori's back, making him carry her the rest of the way.

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Katana sat at the huge table, looking up at everyone sitting at it, two spaces were left for Naruto and Sasuke who hadn't yet returned.

"I wonder where Naruto and Sasuke is," Hinata said quietly. "It's dark and they're not back yet."

Katana nodded, she had a point. _Maybe Kaya and her ninja friends attacked them. After all, they are S-ranked_. She thought.

She was about to stand up and go look for them when the front door swung open with Naruto and Sasuke walking in.

"It's cold out there!" Naruto complained, everybody laughed. "Oh, and Kaya said that she's bringing someone to help with the rebuilding tomorrow. One of her ninja buddies."

The two boys sat down, Naruto in between Kiba and Hinata and Sasuke in between Neji and Kakashi. Katana was shocked, Kaya was bringing one of the S-ranked ninja?!

The woman of the house served everyone dinner, and quite surprisingly to Katana, Sasuke didn't eat much.

"It wasn't a big meal," Naruto complained when everyone was finished eating.

"Well what do you expect?" Katana said. "The village wouldn't have much food, not since the Akatsuki attacked it. After we help rebuild it, there will be more food."

Naruto sighed.

"Come on," the woman smiled. "I will show you to your rooms."

Katana waited until the male ninja were settled into one room and the female ninja were settled into another room. She snuck out and sat up on the roof, gazing out into the night sky, watching the stars.

One star shot across the sky and Katana's eyes followed it until it disappeared. "Katana?"

She turned her head and looked at Kakashi. He walked over and sat beside her. "Hi, Kakashi," Katana said.

"I can see that something is troubling you," Kakashi spoke quietly.

Katana looked back at the stars. "It's Kaya."

Kakashi remained silent.

"It wasn't that long ago that we found out we were sisters, we had met before that. When we discovered the truth, she got mad and she blamed me for leaving her at the village all those years ago, but I thought that I had killed her. I don't know if I can forgive her for that," Katana explained. "And now that she's bringing a ninja friend, I don't know what to do."

"Earlier today, your sister tried to apologize," Kakashi said. "Are you sure she doesn't regret saying what she did to you? And maybe she's bringing a friend because she feels out of place among us village ninja."

"I guess," Katana shrugged. "But I don't know if I can trust her. I didn't know she was even alive after the attack I used to kill that demon."

"What attack?"

"It's called the Armato Sumorata," Katana sighed. "I haven't used it since that day."

"You're scared to hurt people because you thought you killed your sister," Kakashi said. When Katana nodded he smiled. "I understand."

"You do?" Katana looked at him.

He nodded. "Katana, I've known you since the day you came to the Leaf Village. I know how many times you cried as a kid. On night patrols I used to see you on the roof, crying and looking up at the moon and stars. Your heart was torn because of what happened to your Clan, and because of what you thought happened to your sister. After discovering that Kaya was in fact your sister, yes she blamed you, but that was most likely because she was so shocked to figure out that you were her sister. Now she regrets what she said, and she wants to fix things with you."

Katana blinked, suddenly deep in thought.

"I know it might sound hard, especially after what she said, but it's time to make things right. You never know, Katana," Kakashi stood up and looked down at her. "Maybe Kaya cried to, and grew up believing you were dead, with her heart shattered, just like you were."

Katana watched Kakashi jump off the roof and go back inside. She thought about what Kakashi had said to her, and she also thought about the night she discovered the truth. Kaya had been mad, and blamed Katana for leaving the village. The ninja that found her, Katana didn't know them, and she didn't know how Kaya would have felt, being part of the Kasuma Clan, but being separated from it. After all, every member of the Clan was close, they were all loyal to one another and they were always prepared to fight alongside each other. Having that connection torn away would be devastating for a Kasuma Clan member, and Kaya would have felt the same pain that she did.

"You never know, Katana," Kakashi's voice echoed in her mind. "Maybe Kaya cried to, and grew up believing you were dead, with her heart shattered, just like you were."

Katana sighed. She knew the Jonin ninja was right. She also knew that trusting Kaya again would be difficult, but she had to try. _It's time to make things right_, she thought. She lay on her back and fell asleep on the roof, under the stars in the cool, fresh air.

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"Sasori." Kaya whispered.

Sasori didn't wake up.

Kaya growled. "Sasori!" She nudged him. "Wake up!"

Sasori opened his eyes and blinked at her. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What's the matter, Kaya?"

Kaya rolled her eyes. "Uh, don't you remember?" she whispered. "We're helping to rebuild the village!"

Sasori mumbled something and fell on his back again, pulling the covers over his head.

Kaya growled again and grabbed the blanket, pulling it off of him. "Get up and let's go! Before Pain and the others wake up!"

Sasori sat up quickly. "How early is it!?!?!?!"

Kaya looked out the window and Sasori gasped. "The sun hasn't even risen yet!"

Kaya shrugged. "Let's just go already!"

Sasori stood up and they left the room. Kaya wrote a note before she dragged Sasori out of the hideout and into the forest.

Sasori was still half asleep but Kaya was wide awake and making him run as fast as she could. She was holding his hand and racing at lightning speed, laughing.

"Kaya! Slow down!" Sasori said.

Kaya shook her head, pushing her body to go a little faster, her legs hitting the ground 100 times a second. Sasori had to be dragged most of the way.

"Kaya!" Sasori puffed. "Slow down!"

Kaya suddenly stopped and Sasori fell to his knees, gasping for air. Kaya wasn't even breaking a sweat.

"Aren't you tired?" Sasori asked her, looking up at her.

She shook her head and smiled. "That wasn't very hard. I'm leaving the hard work for when we start work on the village."

"Yeah, helping to rebuild a village that we attacked!" Sasori retorted.

"Come on!" Kaya sighed. "Sasori, you said you would help me fix things with my sister, please don't back out now."

Sasori shook his head. "You know I don't go back on my word. We're in this together, I promise."

Kaya fell to her knees and hugged him side on, her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Sasori. You're one of the greatest friends ever."

Sasori hugged her back. They broke the hug and he smiled. "Come on, we'd better get to the village."

They stood up and ran together, at normal speed, through the forest until they reached the Ryoku village.

They walked through the village gates, Sasori breathing hard and Kaya breathing normally. Kaya saw the village ninja and they came walking over.

"Alright, Sasori," she murmured. "This is it. Don't say anything about the Akatsuki and just say that you know them. We're a different group of ninja."

Sasori nodded. "I got it."

The ninja reached them and Kakashi looked at Sasori with a steady gaze, Katana was glaring at him in an untrusting way.

"Um, everyone," Kaya said. "This is Sasori. He's one of the ninja that took me in all those years ago."

Sasori nodded to them.

Ebisu looked him up and down. "How strong are you, exactly?"

Sasori looked at him. "I am an S-ranked ninja. Stronger than you even by the looks of you."

"Sasori!" Kaya murmured with a growl. "You're supposed to be nice!"

Sasori rolled his eyes and sighed. Katana walked right up to him. She looked up at him and blinked. "Hi."

"...Hi," he replied. "Who might you be?"

"My name is Katana," she said.

"Sasori, this is my sister," Kaya explained and looked at Katana, who looked back at her.

Sasori smiled. "Nice to finally meet you. Kaya has said many things about you, she says that you're a strong young ninja."

Katana looked like she was suddenly stabbed in the back with a kunai. "Really?"

Kaya looked up at Sasori.

He nodded. "She told me of the night you trained with her when you first met. When she told me you were her sister, she wasn't very happy-"

Katana growled. "Yeah, she was mad!"

Before Sasori could finish his sentence, Katana stormed off and Kaya dropped her head.

"There will be time for talk later," Kakashi said. "For now, let's start rebuilding this village."

Kakashi was about to put a hand on Kaya's shoulder to comfort her after Katana's anger but Sasori grabbed his arm and let him go, he backed away a little.

Kaya looked up at Sasori again. _What was that about_? She thought.

"Let's just get going," Ebisu said and led everyone deeper into the village. Kaya and Sasori followed.

As they passed villagers, they looked at Sasori with curiosity and Kaya desperately hoped that they didn't recognize him as a member of the Akatsuki. After all, he wasn't wearing his cloak, just like she wasn't wearing hers.

The group of ninja stopped and Kakashi turned around. "Alright, if you talk to each of the villagers, they will give you a job to do."

Kaya sighed, the rebuilding was about to start. Sasori wasn't looking happy.

The group split up and Kaya found a female villager. "Hi," she greeted the villager. "Is there anything you would like me to help you with?"

The villager smiled and nodded. "That would be very kind of you. I need someone to move planks of wood just outside the village gates so they can be turned into firewood. They were formally a giant cart but after the Akatsuki attacked, it was destroyed so we have to make use of it."

Kaya thought for a moment. "I have a better idea."

The villager blinked.

"Well, what if we made half of the planks into firewood and the rest into a smaller cart, that way we could move things around if it's needed? Like rocks and stuff."

The villager smiled. "That is a wonderful idea. But you might need someone to help you."

Kaya nodded. "I'll go find one of my friends and I'll be right back."

Kaya ran off and stopped when she saw Neji. "Hey!" Kaya called and ran up to him. "Are you busy?"

"No," he replied.

"Good," Kaya smiled and grabbed his hand, dragging him through the village. "Because I need your help."

They found the female villager and Kaya explained to Neji what they had to do.

The villager showed them where the planks were and they divided them up. "I didn't catch your name by the way," Kaya said to him as they picked up some planks and started carrying them out of the village.

"It's Neji," he replied.

"Cool."

They had finished taking planks out of the village and returned to the woman, who was holding two hammers and a box of nails. Kaya took them and handed a hammer to Neji. They walked over to the rest of the planks and Kaya spotted two wheels that weren't destroyed by her friends. "We could use those wheels to make the cart," she suggested.

Neji nodded and went to get them. Then they got to work building the cart.

#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#

Katana sighed, she had to lead horses to a paddock and tie them up until the paddock was built. She had a boring job.

She was leading one horse over to the paddock, it was a pure black stallion and it looked mad. She ignored it and continued to lead it. Suddenly, it reared up and scared her. It kicked her shoulder and she fell to the ground. It reared up again and she put her arm up in case it went to kick her again.

A boy quickly moved in front of her and grabbed the lead to the horse, pulling it down on its hooves and calming it.

He looked over his shoulder. "You okay, Katana?"

She nodded and stood up, holding her shoulder. "Thanks, Kiba. I appreciate it."

He smiled and Akamaru barked.

"I hate horses," Katana grumbled.

"Only because this one reared up at you," he laughed. "Not all horses are like that."

Katana shrugged. "You can lead that one. I'll get the last one."

"Hinata has that one," Kiba said quickly. "You should go see if another villager has a job for you."

Katana nodded and walked through the village, she saw some of her friends walking around, doing jobs for the villagers. She noticed Kaya carrying planks of wood out of the village, too much for her to handle because she could barely see over the wood.

Suddenly, she saw Kaya trip on a rock that she didn't see. She was about to run over and help her but someone beat her to it. Sasuke grabbed Kaya in one arm and the planks of wood in the other.

Kaya stood up properly and Sasuke handed her half of the planks and he helped her carry them out of the village.

Katana sighed and continued her walk through the village.

"Hey, kid!"

Katana growled and turned, expecting to come face-to-face with a villager. But instead she came face-to-face with Sasori.

"What do you want?" she said.

Sasori sighed. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm busy," Katana growled and continued walking past him.

"You know, Kaya didn't want to say what she did the night when this village was attacked. She was crying," Sasori said and Katana stopped. "She was attacked by a bandit and she didn't even try to defend against him, she was that upset. When I sent the bandit away, she was crying so much and saying she wanted to take back everything that she said. She had a wound on the back of her head from leaning against a tree trunk and smashing her head against it."

Katana turned around but Sasori was walking away. _She was crying_? She thought. _She wanted to take back everything she said to me? And not defending herself against a bandit when she could obviously kill him doesn't sound like she was mad at all. Is he telling the truth? Was she really crying_?

"Ninja girl."

Katana turned around, knowing it was a villager and she blinked at him. "I have a job for you."


	9. Chapter 9

"There, it's all done."

Kaya sat down after everyone had helped fix the last balcony. It had been two days since they started rebuilding the village and Pain had not suspected a thing, he presumed that Sasori really was training her. She looked at Sasori, he was as exhausted as she was. And the others weren't any better.

"We still have a bit more to do," Kakashi said.

Kaya looked around and nodded. The village was looking a lot better but it still had a bit left to get fixed. It wouldn't take more than a day to finish. Then she could get back to actually training and getting better at fighting to become an S-ranked ninja like the rest of the Akatsuki.

"Well, well," came a voice. "Is it just me or is Kaya and Sasori actually working with village ninja to rebuild a village?"

Kaya flinched, she recognized that voice. She remembered it from when he was once with the Akatsuki. He had joined up with them a few days after she did and when she was 10 he left because he tried to take over Itachi's body and failed.

She slowly turned her head up to look at him standing on the village wall. _Why is he here_? She thought. _What does he want now_?

She gazed into his vicious eyes and looked at his long black hair and evil smile. She looked at Sasori, his eyes had fear in them, and she could feel her heart pounding. He looked back at her and she felt like she was stabbed with a kunai. They were both scared of this ninja, he was a missing-nin from a village called, Konohagakure, and he was also one of the three legendary ninja. The other two were Jiraiya and Tsunade. But Kaya knew that this guy meant bad news, not just because he was a lot stronger than Sasori, or even Pain, but because he could blow their cover and probably destroy the village and make them rebuild it again.

"Who the heck are you?" Kaya heard Katana say. She looked at her sister, she didn't look afraid of this ninja. _Just wait until she figures out how strong he is_, she thought.

"Orochimaru!" Kakashi spat.

"Who?!" Katana asked him.

"He is one of the legendary ninja, trained by the Third Hokage in Konoha," Kakashi explained. "But he is now a criminal, who wants revenge against Konoha because he was not accepted to be the next Hokage after the death of the Second Hokage. Then he was exiled for trying to fight for the place."

Kaya clenched her fists. "What are you doing here, Orochimaru?!" she growled.

"Ah, Kaya, nice to see you again," he smiled. "You look a lot stronger since the last time I saw you."

"You don't," Kaya mumbled.

"Get out of here!" Kaya heard Katana growl and the black and blue haired girl ran forward.

Kaya looked at her. "Katana, no! He's a legendary ninja, remember?"

"I wouldn't care if he was a snake ninja!" Katana called over her shoulder. "He can go jump!"

"He is a snake ninja," Kaya sighed and ran after her.

"Kaya!" Sasori yelled. "Don't!"

"I'll bring her back!" Kaya called back and used her lightning speed, growling as Katana did the same.

Katana sped forward and Orochimaru jumped down from the wall, ready to face her.

Kaya panicked, he was going to attack her!

Katana lifted her hand and clenched her fists. She threw her fist forward to punch Orochimaru but he merely pushed her arm to the side and slammed his palm into her gut, it was glowing blue, and his hand threw her back to the others, over Kaya's head. Katana landed on top of Kiba.

Kaya looked at Katana, stopping in her tracks.

"She has lightning speed as well?" came Orochimaru's voice and it sent shivers down Kaya's spine. "Could she be your sister by any chance?"

Kaya spun around and Orochimaru was right in front of her. She jumped back with shock but he grabbed her shoulder, he leaned his head forward. "Do you fear a fellow Akatsuki member?" he whispered in her ear. "Oh and by the way, I want this village."

Kaya couldn't move, her body started shaking with fear and she flinched when he started laughing. She tried to move her arm but it wouldn't move due to her fear.

Orochimaru's hand moved from her shoulder to her neck and his grip tightened.

_Move_! She thought to herself. _Move you fool! MOVE_!!!

Her arm moved and she grabbed a kunai out of she pocket on her left leg. She drew it up but Orochimaru spotted it and punched her in the stomach and threw her backwards, she dropped the kunai at his feet.

She landed with a thump next to Sasuke and cringed. She slowly sat up and saw Orochimaru laughing. She nearly felt sick when she saw his long snake tongue come out of his mouth and grab the kunai that was on the ground.

He threw the kunai with his tongue and it hit the barrel she was leaning her back against, she turned her head slightly to look at it directly beside her face.

"This guy is ticking me off!" Katana growled and got up, running at Orochimaru again.

"Katana, don't!" Kaya called and went to get up and run after her but Sasori and Sasuke got up and grabbed her.

Orochimaru made hand-signs and pointed his arm forward. Four snakes came out of his sleeve and went for Katana. She dodged out of their path and continued running for Orochimaru.

"Katana!" Kiba called and got up, running forward.

"Kiba, stay back!" Kakashi yelled but the boy kept running, Akamaru right beside him.

Kakashi growled and went after them, Ebisu followed.

"Come on, guys!" Naruto called to the others. "Let's go kick snake butt!"

Naruto waited, but nobody got up. "Come on, guys!" he said. "This guy could destroy the village, and you won't do anything to try and protect it. Being a ninja is all about defending against other ninja and completing missions that could save people's lives."

"It is, Naruto, but-"

"But nothing, Sakura!" Naruto said. "We're on a mission and we need to protect these villagers! We can't just sit back and let all our hard work go to waste. We helped rebuild this village! We gave the villagers new hope! And you're just gonna sit there and watch it all go down the drain?"

"We feel the same way!" Shino said. "But look how strong that guy is. There's no point trying-"

"What!?" Naruto exclaimed. "You mean you're not even gonna try! A real ninja wouldn't say that! A real ninja would get up and go into battle no matter what! No matter how tough, no matter how impossible it may seem, a ninja would fight even if the odds were stacked against him! A real ninja never gives up, and _I'm_ not going to give up, even if I fail the first time. There's no point in giving up if you don't even try! I won't give up because I'm going to protect this village no matter what!"

Kaya nodded and shook away Sasuke and Sasori to standby Naruto's side. "He's right," she said. "Orochimaru is strong, we know that already. But if we all don't try and defeat him, this village will get destroyed."

Everyone looked at one another and Kaya heard a bit of murmuring. Kaya looked over her shoulder and saw Katana, Kiba, Kakashi and Ebisu trying to fight against Orochimaru. She turned back to the others. "What Naruto said is _all_ true: A real ninja never gives up no matter what. And a real ninja won't give up without trying. I might not be from a village, but I'm still a ninja. And like you, I worked hard to rebuild this village. I'm not just gonna sit back and watch this village get destroyed after everything we've done. If Orochimaru wants to destroy this village....."

Kaya looked at each of her friends, Neji, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, Rock Lee, Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Chji and Ino.

She clenched her fists. "Then he's gonna have to get through me _first_!"

Sasori looked at Kaya, her eyes shining. Her words seemed to reach the others, as they stood up, muscles tense and ready for a fight.

"So....." Kaya smiled, looking at them. "Who's with us?"

They all nodded and Kaya turned around, looking at Orochimaru. He was able to fend off all four of the ninja. _But can he fend off all of us_? She thought with a smile.

"We fight together," Kaya said. "That's the only way this will work."

She took one step forward before she raced across the ground at full speed, running straight for Orochimaru.

Katana and the other three jumped back to catch their breath but they saw Kaya race right past them. Orochimaru knew Kaya was coming for him and he put his hand out, throwing it forward and getting her in the stomach. She fell backwards at his feet and she looked up at him, he looked back at her. "You can't defeat me," he said. "I know all your tricks. You can't hurt me."

Kaya's eyes widened as he brought out his long tongue and went to hit her but she rolled to the side and it hit the ground. She got up hands on the ground, got up and got a little distance away. She noticed her friends coming forward, ready to fight the snake ninja. She made twelve hand-signs. "Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

A ball of fire came out of her mouth and formed the shape of a dragon. It opened its mouth and shot towards Orochimaru. The snake ninja laughed. "You won't hurt me with that."

"That's what you think," Kaya smiled as Orochimaru jumped into the air to dodge the dragon. She knew the second one would hit, it couldn't fail.

Orochimaru sensed the second one but to Kaya's relief, the fire dragon hit directly, sending him flying to the ground.

Orochimaru growled and glared at Kaya. "Kabuto! Sayuri! Get down here!"

Kaya froze. There were more people to fight?!

She looked up and saw two people standing on the wall, a guy and a girl. The girl looked to be Kaya's age. With long black hair, a plain white shirt and black pants with a kunai pocket on her right leg and a shuriken pouch on the left side of her waist. The guy had silver sort of hair with weird clothes, like Orochimaru.

They jumped down and stood by Orochimaru, who got up.

Kaya blinked at the girl. She didn't look pleased. She looked really upset or something.

Kakashi looked stunned. "Sayuri!?"

The girl looked back at Kakashi, and looked at the ground.

"Sayuri, we knew that Orochimaru put the curse on you, but why are you with him? It's been years." Kakashi asked.

"She chose to come with me," Orochimaru laughed. "She wanted power, and I offered it to her."

Kaya watched Sayuri's expression, she suddenly looked angry but Orochimaru couldn't see because her hair was hiding her face.

"Sayuri!" Katana exclaimed.

"Hi, Katana," Sayuri murmured. Orochimaru glared at her and she didn't speak again.

"She was loyal to the Leaf Village!" Kakashi growled at Orochimaru. "She would never choose to leave!"

"Oh but she did," Orochimaru smiled, looking at the ninja. "And I see you have two criminals among you village ninja."

Kaya and Sasori froze on the spot as all eyes turned to them.

"What!?" Choji exclaimed.

"What is he talking about?" Shikamaru asked.

"They're part of a group called the-"

"Armaterasu," Kaya interrupted, remembering one of Itachi's attacks. Then she ran at Orochimaru. "Enough talk. Let's finish this!"

"Kaya!" Sasuke called.

Kaya kept running and Katana followed, running side by side with her sister.

"Katana!" Kiba called.

Kaya and Katana ran at Orochimaru and, at the exact same time, pulled a kunai from the pockets on their left legs and held it in front of them the same way.

Orochimaru smiled and made hand-signs. They came straight for him.

A fireball flew at them but in a split second, they both separated and ran in opposite directions around him. Before Kabuto or Sayuri could even move to protect their master, Katana was on his left side and Kaya on his right, kunai to his neck, their arms crossed over each other at the back.

"Make one move and we'll kill you," they said. Orochimaru looked at them both, their sapphire eyes glaring at him furiously.

Kaya and Katana were suddenly pulled back and Orochimaru grabbed their kunai.

Kaya looked at her sister, she had snakes holding her arms, and she wasn't much better.

They looked over their shoulders, Sayuri was there, the snakes body's half in her sleeves. _She was so quick_! Kaya thought. _Is she really that skilled_?

Katana threw the snakes off of her and went for Orochimaru again. Kaya got up, tore the snakes away from her and went for Sayuri. If she was an old friend of Katana's, she didn't want to hurt her. But she could get her out of the way.

"Come on everyone! Don't just stand there!" Kaya called.

On her command, everyone ran forward and the battle continued.

Orochimaru growled. "Alright. Let's make this even."

Kaya's eyes widened. _No_!

Suddenly, more ninja jumped down from the wall, and the battle was even.

The fight went on and Naruto came to help Kaya with Sayuri but it didn't work. They both got thrown away. Sayuri walked up to them, her eyes shining with regret. "I'm sorry," she whispered and made hand-signs.

"Sayuri, wait!"

The girl stopped and Katana ran over. "Don't do it," Katana said.

"I have to," Sayuri replied. "It's Orochimaru's orders."

"Sayuri, I know you wouldn't have left the Leaf Village unless you were forced to. You loved training to be a ninja and protecting the village. Please don't do this!"

Sayuri tried to break the hand-sign, but she couldn't. Orochimaru ordered her to attack them, but Katana wanted her to stop. "I have to...."

Katana put a hand on her shoulder. "Come back to us, Sayuri. Orochimaru can't stop you. You're supposed to be on our side. We need you back."

Sayuri looked unsure of what to do. Kaya could see that she wanted to be back with her friends, but she was scared of Orochimaru.

Kaya stood up and took a step forward. "Sayuri."

Sayuri and Katana looked at the Akatsuki girl.

"Listen to your heart," Kaya said. "They need you more than Orochimaru does. I know you can make the right decision."

Sayuri's body shook for a moment, her expression was worrying. Suddenly, her hand-sign broke and she looked up, her eyes shining with determination, her fists now clenched. Katana and Kaya smiled and Naruto stood up.

"So what's it gonna be, my friend?" Katana asked.

"Orochimaru will pay," Sayuri replied and she turned to look at him, fighting against Sakura. He threw the pink-haired girl away and looked in her direction. "Sayuri, what are you doing?! Attack them!"

"No."

The battle stopped, Orochimaru's followers in a line beside him, and The Leaf Village ninja, and Sasori, stood in a line a few metres away. Kaya, Naruto, Katana and Sayuri in the middle of it all.

Naruto stepped back to be with the line. Kaya and Katana stood on either side of Sayuri.

"WHAT!?" Orochimaru exclaimed.

"No," Sayuri repeated. "I won't do it."

"Why not?"

"Because these are my friends," Sayuri looked at them all. "And you tore me away from them. And because of that, I should be fighting _with_ them now. We will take you down......." She looked at Katana, then at Kaya, then back to Orochimaru. "Together."

Now Orochimaru was one man short.

Kaya clenched her fists when Orochimaru made hand-signs. She was expecting something to do with snakes, but she was wrong.

"Aaaaahhhh!!!!!" Sayuri yelled, holding her neck. She fell to her knees.

"What did you do to her!?" Kaya growled.

"She has a curse mark," he laughed.

"What!?" Katana growled, looking up at him.

"She will never be free of me," he explained. "The curse mark will always remain. I could kill her if I wanted to."

Katana's eyes widened and she looked back at Sayuri, crouching beside her. "You bastard," she growled.

"I agree with you, Katana," Kaya growled. "Let's take him out."

Katana stood up and they stood side by side.

Sasori was quite surprised, considering Katana still hadn't forgiven Kaya.

"It's time," they said together with voices so much alike, full of fury, and they quickly made the same hand-signs at the same time.

Orochimaru shrugged, knowing that they wouldn't hurt him.

The two girls put their arms down and balls of Chakra formed in both hands. "For our Clan's special technique."

Sasori looked at Kaya, maybe this was what she had said the night they found her, about the attack she was going to use to kill the Triple-Tailed Tiger.

Orochimaru and everyone watched in silence, no one moving.

Suddenly, Kaya and Katana clapped their hands together at the same time and the balls of Chakra got bigger. "Twin Lightning Dragon Jutsu!" They both faced the ground.

A bright light exploded from the Chakra and the two balls of Chakra began to take shape. They both formed dragons, with yellow eyes. The Chakra became white and lightning crackled all around, coming from the two dragons.

Orochimaru blinked. "You can't hurt me with that."

"Make a bet?" they said, their voices full of malice and they looked up, their eyes glittering with excitement.

The dragons raced forward, toward Orochimaru.

He laughed and went to jump out of the way.

Kaya and Katana made more hand-signs. "Multiply!"

When Orochimaru dodged the two dragons, he just managed to dodge another one. He looked around, there were more dragons, all around him.

They all closed in on him and everyone heard the roar of thunder and Orochimaru's shout of pain.

The lightning disappeared, as well as the dragons and Orochimaru was on the ground, on his hands and knees.

Two hands were placed upon his shoulders. "That was just the beginning," two voices whispered.

Orochimaru looked up, Kaya and Katana weren't by Sayuri's side, they were right behind him.

They pulled him up and turned him around. But before they could move, he made hand-signs. "One more step and she dies," he smiled.

They froze and looked back at Sayuri. They looked back at him, growling.

"Kakashi!" Kaya called, alerting him. "Can any of you ninja do a sealing Jutsu?"

Kakashi nodded and ran over to Sayuri.

Orochimaru's eyes widened and he went to finish making hand-signs.

Kakashi was doing the same thing, only different hand-signs.

Kaya's heart was pounding, it was a race against time to save Sayuri.

Kakashi put a hand on Sayuri's neck. "Curse Seal Jutsu!"

"No!" Orochimaru exclaimed. He wasn't quick enough.

Kaya breathed and the two girls looked back at Orochimaru with a smile. He didn't look pleased. They pulled back their left arms, fists clenched and threw them forward, hitting him in the gut. Then they turned, pivoting on the feet and kicked him in the gut.

They stood up properly and, as if they had practiced together at the Academy so many times, they punched him in the gut over and over again before doing a high kick, jumping back and throwing shuriken.

Orochimaru threw kunai and the shurikens were thrown away. "Who do you take me for?" he growled. "I am one of the Legendary ninja. You can't beat me with simple tricks."

"No, but we're weakening you," Kaya smiled.

"But you're also weakening yourselves," he laughed.

Katana and Kaya exchanged a glance. "I think it's time for our Kekkei Genkai's," Kaya grinned. "What about you?"

Katana shook her head. "I am not using Armato Sumorata."

Kaya's eyes widened. "Why not!?"

"Because, I'm scared to hurt people," Katana replied.

Kaya turned to her, fists clenched. "But your Armato Sumorata could demolish this guy."

"Kaya, I haven't used Armato Sumorata since the day we were separated."

Kaya growled. "And I haven't used _my_ Kekkei Genkai _ever_. But it's worth a shot!"

"Uh..." Naruto said. "Shouldn't you be fighting Orochimaru instead of arguing-"

"Shut up, Naruto!" Katana and Kaya growled.

The two girls started arguing again and everyone sweat dropped.

Kaya turned around. "Fine, if you won't use your attack, I'll use mine to take him down myself!"

Sasori's eyes widened. _The lightning dragon thing wasn't her special attack_?

Katana growled and Kaya went to run at Orochimaru but Katana grabbed her. "We don't need to use the Kekkei Genkai's to take this guy out. All we need is fire and water."

Kaya looked at her, thinking for a moment. She nodded. "You're right."

"As always," Katana smiled.

"Not always," Kiba murmured.

"I heard that!"

"Sorry."

Kaya and Katana turned back to Orochimaru and started making different hand-signs.

"Whoa, they argue but then it's over in a second," Ino sighed. "They're weird. Don't you think, Sasuke?"

Ino looked at Sasuke, he was watching Kaya, his muscles tense as if he was going to jump in and help.

"Get the girls," Orochimaru ordered and his followers ran to stop Kaya and Katana.

Sayuri was the first to get up and run to their defense, attacking Kabuto. The others clenched their fists and jumped in, defending the two girls that continued making hand-signs.

Suddenly, their hands stayed in one sign.

"Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!" Kaya said.

"Water style, Twin Water Dragon Jutsu!" Katana said.

Water and Fire started fusing together but the two kunoichi's started making more hand-signs. The same ones. As the water and fire took the form of dragons swirling around each other, the girls finished their hand-signs. "Twin Lightning Dragon Jutsu!"

Lightning appeared and joined up with the fire and water. Three sets of dragons twisted around each other and flew at Orochimaru. He dodged out of the way, laughing.

Kaya and Katana were looking at the ground with their hair covering their face and they smiled.

Orochimaru was confused, until the six dragons separated and flew at him from different directions. He jumped out of the way but they kept coming at him. He was getting more and more tired as he had to continuously dodge the dragons. His followers were getting tired too, so were the Leaf Village ninja and Sasori.

Kaya sighed. This would have to end quickly.

Orochimaru dodged them and crouched down, holding his chest, breathing hard.

Kaya and Katana exchanged a glance and closed their eyes.

The dragons flew up and came crashing back down, twisting around each other and forming one huge dragon. It's jaws opened up and it crashed down on Orochimaru, making a huge crashing sound.

The dragon disappeared and Orochimaru lay there, not dead, but exhausted and unable to fight anymore.

Kaya and Katana grinned. "Had enough yet?"

Orochimaru looked up at them and growled. Then he cringed. "Yeah, for now."

Orochimaru's followers left the Leaf Village ninja and picked up Orochimaru. They glared at Kaya and Katana before jumping to the village wall and taking off into the forest.

Kaya and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. "That was a close one," Kaya sighed.

"Yeah, so you see why we didn't need to use our Kekkei Genkai's?" Katana growled a little.

"Well sorry for wanting to finish that guy off!" Kaya bit back.

"Are you sure you didn't just want to show how strong you are?" Katana spat.

"Why would I!?" Kaya growled. "I have hated that guy for years!"

"What did he ever do to you?"

"Well for one he tried to take over Ita- Uh.... I mean, Itairu's body," Kaya exchanged a glance with Sasori.

"So was Orochimaru right when he said you were criminals?" Katana asked.

Kaya and Sasori froze, exchanging glances. "Uh..... n-n-n-n-n-no. It's not true," Kaya said.

Everyone looked at her and Sasori, their gazes full of suspicion.

"She's telling the truth," Sasori said. "If we _were_ criminals, why would we help you rebuild the village?"

There was silence for a few moments. Kakashi nodded. "I guess you have a point there," he looked at Kaya looking worried. _Something tells me they're lying, but if it's a lie, we'll find out who they really are eventually_, he thought.

Sasuke looked at Kaya, wondering if she was really telling the truth. _Could this girl really be a criminal_? He thought. _She doesn't look like one. But then again, her friend, Sasori, does. And their group, as Kaya said, is known as the Armaterasu. Could that be true_?

"C'mon," Kiba sighed. "We'd better get this village finished so we can go home."

Katana breathed and smiled before going to follow Kiba. Sasuke walked over to Naruto and Neji and they started moving logs with the cart Kaya and Neji had made on the first day.

"Kakashi," Kaya said. "Is there anything we can help with?"

Kakashi looked around. He looked back at her. "No. I'm pretty sure that we can handle the rest ourselves. You and Sasori should go home. You've been a great help these past few days. Even though you weren't assigned this mission."

Kaya nodded and looked at Sasori. When Sasori nodded and turned around, she followed him towards the entrance of the village.

Katana stopped and looked to see what Kaya was doing and saw her leaving the village with Sasori. "Are they leaving?" Katana wondered out loud as Kakashi walked over to them.

"Yes," Kakashi replied. "Their assistance is no loner needed here."

Katana looked at Kaya, her long black hair flowing with the wind as she walked beside Sasori.

Katana saw Kaya taking a deep breath and Sasori put and arm around her and pulled her close to him like a side hug.

_Is she crying_? Katana thought. _I hope she's not_.

She was about to run over but Kakashi grabbed her shoulder and stopped her. She look up at him. "Let them go," he smiled. "You'll see them again."

Katana sighed and looked back to where Kaya was, but she wasn't there. Kaya and Sasori were gone. The risen dust and dirt proved that they ran out of the village and into the forest.

Katana dropped her head and followed Kakashi and Kiba through the village.


	10. Chapter 10

"That was close," Sasori breathed as they stopped to catch their breath.

Kaya nodded. "Orochimaru nearly gave away our position."

"Good thing you thought of something before he could say the Akatsuki," Sasori smiled. "One of Itachi's attacks? How did you think of that?"

"Uh....." Kaya looked at the ground.

"How did you even know that one of his Jutsu's was called Armaterasu?"

"Um....."

Sasori looked at her. "I don't remember hearing that he ever showed you. He's only used it twice to practice it. Once at a village attack, which you weren't around to see it. And another time when he was training. And you know that you're not suppose to watch us train. Pain's rule," Sasori looked at her nervous expression as she laughed nervously.

"Umm... I might have watched him training one day. Maybe," she looked at the ground.

"You know you're not allowed."

"I know, but I wanted to see his Jutsu's," Kaya smiled.

"And let me guess, you've seen everyone else train as well?"

"Um................... no," Kaya laughed nervously. "Maybe. Yes....."

"Who have you seen training?" Sasori asked her.

She gulped. "Um... Deidara, Itachi, Zetsu, Hidan, Konan, you........"

"Anyone else?" Sasori sighed, knowing there was at least one more person. He also felt a little weird that she knew his Jutsu's. He didn't know why, he just did.

Kaya looked at the ground.

Sasori's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you've seen Pain training?!"

Kaya stayed silent.

Sasori was shocked. "You know he'd be really mad if he knew!"

"Don't tell him!" Kaya begged, lifting her head to stare right into his eyes. "I only came across him by accident, but I had forgotten his rule and decided to watch. I didn't mean to watch him using his Jutsu's! Please don't say anything, Sasori!"

"Alright," Sasori mumbled. "How many times have I saved you now?"

"A lot," Kaya smiled. "Now, let's get going. We're supposed to be back by sun down remember?"

Sasori followed Kaya through the forest. "Kaya?"

"Yeah?" she said over her shoulder.

"You know we'll have to tell Pain about Orochimaru."

Kaya stopped and spun around, Sasori stopped just in time to avoid running into her. "You're joking!?" she said, looking at him with a serious expression. "That means we'll have to tell him everything!"

"No we won't," Sasori assured her. "We can just say we ran into him when we were training."

Kaya wasn't convinced. "Orochimaru wouldn't just _run_ into us or attack us unless we were in his way."

"Yes he would," Sasori sighed. "Because he was once part of the Akatsuki. He hates us after he was kicked out for trying to take over Itachi's body. He would attack us, no questions asked. And you know he hates you a lot."

Kaya laughed nervously. "Yeah, well it was an accident, okay."

"Sure," Sasori laughed. "Challenging him to a fight and tricking him, and then making him chase after you and run into a grizzly bear, and then showing up again and watching from the side-lines laughing before running away was an accident?"

"....................... Yes," Kaya nearly cracked up laughing. "But that's only half the reason why he hates me-" Kaya covered her mouth.

Sasori cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really? What else did you do?"

"Nothing!" Kaya said quickly and turned around to keep walking, but Sasori grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, holding her so she couldn't run off. "Hehe..." she laughed nervously and begun making hand-signs.

Sasori grabbed one of her hands and separated it from her other hand.

"Damn," she mumbled. "I'm not telling you!"

"You'd better tell me," Sasori smiled. "Or I'll tell Pain that you saw some of us training."

Kaya growled good-naturedly. "Black-mailer," she grumbled. "Fine, I'll tell you."

"I'm listening," Sasori smiled.

"I kinda, um....." Kaya took a deep breath.

"You what?"

"I might have played a lot of tricks on him, like putting baby crabs in his cloak..... maybe," Kaya tried to stop herself from laughing, though she expected Sasori to be mad.

Sasori blinked at her, taking in what she had just said, and cracked up laughing, letting her go and holding his stomach.

Kaya tilted her head, Sasori wasn't mad for putting crabs in Orochimaru's cloak?

"What else did you do?" Sasori asked.

Kaya smiled. "Well, I put paranah's in a pond and shoved him in it. I put slugs on his head. I accidentally knocked one of his snakes off a cliff. Um... what else......."

"You really did all that?!" Sasori laughed.

Kaya nodded.

Sasori took a few deep breaths and calmed down. "You're a trouble-maker that's for sure," he put a hand on her head. "C'mon, let's get going."

Kaya walked beside Sasori through the forest and they reached their hideout.

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Katana sighed and wiped sweat from her forehead. She looked over at Kiba, who had just finished helping a villager. He walked over to her and she smiled.

Kakashi met up with them. "Come on, you two, the others are waiting for us. Everything's done. It's time we headed for home."

Katana smiled and followed Kakashi with Kiba beside her.

They met up with all their friends. Katana looked at Sayuri, she looked nervous to be going back home. "What if they don't accept me back?" she asked Kakashi.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. The Third Hokage will let you back, he let Anko back, and she used to be one of Orochimaru's followers."

Sayuri smiled. "Okay. Thank you."

Kakashi smiled back.

"Thank you for all your help," Kuramu said. "We don't know what we would have done without you."

Kakashi nodded and Ebisu smiled. "Well a great ninja warrior like me was perfectly suited for the job."

"'Great ninja warrior'?" Katana cocked an eyebrow at him. She looked away and rolled her eyes. "You keep telling yourself that, pervy-sensei."

Ebisu growled at her and she poked her tongue out at him.

Kakashi stepped in between them before Ebisu could move towards her. "We'd best be off."

Katana nodded and the ninja started walking out of the village.

"Take care!" Naruto called over his shoulder.

"You too!" Kuramu called back.

Katana sighed. "It feels weird, leaving the village and going home."

"Why?" Shikamaru asked. "We're going home, isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah, it is," Katana breathed. "But we helped the villagers rebuild _their_ home."

"And we had Kaya and her friend to help us," Sasuke added.

Katana looked at him before looking ahead. "They're long gone. Forget them."

Sasuke looked at her, she seemed put out. He walked beside her. "You miss your sister, don't you? I know you do."

Katana growled quietly. "No, I don't miss her. I'm glad she's gone!"

Sasuke sighed and spoke just as quiet. "You keep telling yourself that, but is that to keep yourself from admitting the truth?"

He heard Katana growl. "No! I don't miss her and that's that! Now back off and drop the subject!"

Sasuke slowed his pace and Katana kept walking passed him.

Sasuke sighed. Kiba pulled up beside him. "Give her time to settle down, at least," he said. "At most, it's a good idea not to talk about Kaya around her."

Sasuke shrugged and Kiba ran to catch up with Katana.

"What was that about, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked to either side of him. _Aw man! Not these two again_! He thought.

Sakura blinked at him. "Well?"

"Nothing, can't you leave me alone?" Sasuke growled at her and Ino.

"Yeah, Sakura!" Ino poked he tongue out. "You're annoying my poor Sasuke-boy."

"_You're_ Sasuke-boy!? I don't think so!" Sakura growled. "Ino-pig!"

"Ugh! Billboard brow!" Ino spat back.

_Give me a break_! Sasuke thought. _They are so clueless_.

Katana sighed. Ino and Sakura never gave up. Kiba walked beside her and she felt comforted. She couldn't help but think that Sasuke might have been right.

"_You keep telling yourself that, but is that to keep yourself from admitting the truth_?" Sasuke's voice rang in her head.

She sighed as she also heard Kakashi's voice. She remembered what he had said to her. "_I know it might sound hard, especially after what she said, but it's time to make things right. You never know, Katana, maybe Kaya cried to, and grew up believing you were dead, with her heart shattered, just like you were_."

Katana sighed again. _I don't know what to do_, she thought. _Sasuke's right; I do miss Kaya. But I can't, because she's with her ninja friends outside of a village. I can't miss her_.

They kept walking through the forest and Katana was getting tired. They had fought Orochimaru and his followers, rebuilt the rest of the village and now they had to travel home, all in the one day.

"We're nearly home!" Naruto exclaimed when they reached the top of a hill. Katana looked up from the ground and saw their village. It was huge, and pretty. The sun was behind it in the horizon, nearly disappearing as night began to take over. Lights were on in the village and she saw the Hokage's building. They would have to go there before they were allowed to go home. She sighed, but she was looking forward to sleeping for a day or two. Hopefully.

They walked through the gates of the village and the sky was dark, stars spreading across it.

They passed villagers and they were welcomed home with polite 'hello's'. Katana walked with her head held high, proud that she was able to help a village in need and be rewarded for it.

They continued on their path and reached the Hokage's building. He was standing on the steps just outside and he was smiling.

"Good afternoon, Lord Hokage," Kakashi said.

"Good to see you back so soon," the Third Hokage greeted them. "Everything went well I suppose?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "But only one thing caused a delay."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"Nothing," Ebisu interrupted before Kakashi could speak. "It isn't important-"

"Shut up, prevy-sensei!" Katana growled. "What happened is something that Lord Hokage should know about. After all, he was one of the Hokage's students."

The Third Hokage was alerted. "What was it?" He suddenly spotted Sayuri.

"Orochimaru showed up," Kakashi replied. "He gave us a bit of trouble."

"What did he want?" the Third Hokage asked.

"The village," Katana answered. "But we sent him packing."

"With my special help of course," Ebisu said. "I fought Orochimaru with all my strength-"

"Stop lying!" Katana spat. "You didn't fight Orochimaru at all. Only his followers! It was me and Kaya who actually sent him running for home!"

"Kaya?" the Third Hokage echoed. "Who is that?"

Katana looked at him. "Lord Hokage, Kaya is my sister. She ran into us on our way to the Ryoku village and offered to help. We accepted and she brought one of her ninja friends."

"Ninja friends?"

"Uh.. she was found by S-ranked ninja when she was little and I thought I had killed her. She has been with them ever since. She doesn't live in a village."

The Third Hokage blinked at her.

"It isn't the Akatsuki that she's with," Kakashi added. "They're apparently called the Armaterasu."

The Third Hokage didn't look convinced. "Kakashi, I would like a word with you. The rest of you may go home and rest up. You go back to training tomorrow."

"Aw man!" Katana grumbled.

The others laughed and Katana followed them away from the Hokage's building.

Kakashi followed the Third Hokage into the building. They sat down at a table, facing one another.

"Kakashi," the Third Hokage said. "This so called group, is not called the Armaterasu. That name is the name of an attack used by an Akatsuki member, Sasuke's brother, Itachi."

"So, you're saying, she was lying?" Kakashi said.

"Well, have you heard of any S-ranked ninja that is not of the Akatsuki?"

"..... Come to think of it, no," Kakashi looked up at the Third Hokage with a serious gaze. "Are you telling me, this girl is from-"

"The Akatsuki? Yes, that is what I assume."

"Then that would explain her strength," Kakashi murmured. "She was as strong as Katana, if not, stronger."

"This girl could mean trouble for the Leaf Village," the Third Hokage said. "If she is from the Akatsuki."

"What should I tell Katana?"

"Nothing. Do not tell anyone about this. That is an order, Kakashi."

Kakashi nodded. "Of course."

"You can go now."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," Kakashi nodded and stood up, leaving the room and leaving the building.

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Katana lay down on her bed, her hands behind her head, looking up at the ceiling. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. _I wonder what Kiba's doing_, she thought.

"Hi," whispered a voice.

Katana sat up and looked at a boy sitting on her window sill. "What are you doing here?" she whispered back, smiling. "Where's your little friend?"

"He was asleep so I left him at home," the boy smiled and got off of the window sill and walked over to her, sitting on the bed beside her. "As for me, I'm visiting a friend."

"But you'll see me tomorrow," Katana laughed. "We're on the same squad remember?"

"I know, but I didn't want to wait. Besides, we're always training with our sensei so we don't have any proper time to hang out."

"So this is what you call hanging out?" Katana said.

"Kinda," the boy replied. "And you know I like you."

Katana sighed. "Yes, I know, Kiba. I know."

He blinked. "What about you?"

Katana was silent for a moment. "Kiba, I....."

Kiba looked nervous, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Katana leaned forward and leaned her forehead against his, looking into his clear gaze and feeling his warm breath on her face. "I really like you. I always have, ever since we were put on the same squad I've had feelings for you."

Kiba's eyes widened a little bit, but he smiled. "And why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Why haven't you kissed me yet?" Katana smiled, not answering his question.

Kiba smiled a little more and moved his head forward, making his lips connect with hers. He put a hand up on her cheek and she kissed him back, putting a hand up behind his neck.

They broke apart after a few seconds and blinked at each other, Katana went red in the face. Kiba laughed. "That was different," he said.

Katana smiled and kissed him again. "So was that," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Kiba sighed inwardly, happy to know that she felt the same way.

Katana lay back down and Kiba lay down next to her, his hands behind his head. "I wonder what Kurenai-sensei will train us tomorrow," he sighed.

Katana nodded but yawned. She was sleepy, and her eyes were getting heavy. Katana rolled onto her right side and rested her head half on Kiba's shoulder and half on his chest, one hand up near her face on his chest. She closed her eyes.

"Uh..." Kiba murmured but she didn't open her eyes again. She was asleep.

He sighed. It looked like he was stuck there until she woke up. He put his arms down over her and soon, he fell asleep as well.

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"Lord Hokage, you wished to see me?"

"Yes. I apologize, this cannot wait until morning, Kurenai."

"What is it?" Kurenai asked, rubbing her eyes and trying to hold back a yawn.

"I need you to train your squad harder," the Third Hokage.

"Um, yes of course. May I ask what for?"

"I can't help but get to thinking," he looked out the window. "Trouble is coming to the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Kurenai didn't ask any more questions. She just nodded. "I'll train my squad harder, starting at sunrise."

The Third Hokage nodded. "Thank you, Kurenai."


	11. Chapter 11

"I don't wanna get up!"

"Kaya! Get up!" Deidara sighed. "Pain wants to talk to you."

Kaya blinked open her eyes. "Well tell him to come in here and talk to me."

Deidara watched as Kaya pulled her bed sheets over her head.

Deidara thought for a moment. "Hidan, Kaya's looking for a fight!"

Kaya's eyes snapped open, she threw the covers off of her, she jumped out of bed and got ready for Hidan to come in for a fight.

"Deidara, Hidan is out on guard, you know that," Itachi murmured, walking into the room.

"I know," Deidara smiled. "I did it to get this youngster out of bed," he put a hand on Kaya's head.

Kaya grabbed his hand with both of hers a flipped him onto his back in front of her. "Not funny, Deidara!" she growled.

"Well I thought it was," Itachi said. "Because I'm only joking. Hidan just got back."

Kaya watched as Hidan walked through the door. "I hear you're looking for a fight?"

"Uh.... no," Kaya replied. "You must be hearing things."

"I'm sure," Hidan smiled and walked towards her. Kaya took a few steps back but Hidan grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder.

"What?!" Kaya exclaimed.

"Pain wants to talk to you," Hidan said. "I'm not gonna keep him waiting by fighting you."

Kaya sighed and Hidan carried her out of her room and he dropped her on the couch, sitting beside her.

Kaya looked at Pain sitting in front of her on the small table "Good morning, Little Miss Trouble," he said.

"Morning, Mr. Impatient," Kaya replied and Pain nearly laughed. "What was it you wanted that ruined my sleep?"

"Sasori told me everything when the two of you got home and you went to bed," Pain said. "Are you okay after fighting Orochimaru? Sasori said that when the two of you were fighting him, he used a snake Jutsu."

"Yeah," Kaya said, trying to think. "I'm okay." She covered the top of her left arm with her right hand, she had a deep wound there from when she was fighting Orochimaru and she fell back on some wood. Although her sleeve covered it, she wasn't sure it was covered completely.

Pain noticed her nervous movement and put a hand over her right hand, taking it away from her arm, pulling her sleeve up a little and looking at the wound. "That looks serious."

"It's nothing," Kaya said. "It doesn't even hurt."

Pain looked at her and put a hand on the wound, watching her flinch. "Oh really?"

"Okay, maybe it hurts a little," Kaya sighed. "But it's nothing, really."

"It could get infected. Konan!" Pain called. "I need you to treat Kaya's arm."

Konan came out of a room with a small box of medical supplies and she sat next to Pain, inspecting the wound.

Kaya sighed and watched Konan treat it and put bandages on it. "There you go," Konan said at last. "You should be fine by this afternoon."

"Good," Pain said. "Because tomorrow we have another village attack."

"You didn't tell us anything about a village attack," Deidara exclaimed. "Which one?"

"I'll explain everything tonight," Pain smiled. "Now, Kaya, go get some rest."

"Really!?"

"Yep."

"Done and done," Kaya grinned and went back to her room.

"She's gonna have fun tomorrow," Pain murmured. "It's gonna be a real challenge for her."

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"So, tell us everything."

"Alright, calm down, Kaya. It won't be until tomorrow," Pain said. All the members of the Akatsuki were sitting on the couch, except for Pain, who was standing up in front of them all. Kaya was sitting in between Sasori and Hidan.

"So, which village is it?" Kakuzu asked.

"It's a ninja village," Pain replied. "You know this village very well. I'm sure you're familiar with the village, Konohagakure."

Sasori's eyes widened. "That's the village we're attacking!?"

"Yes," Pain nodded and looked at Kaya. "You will all be fighting ninja as well as attacking the village. But I expect you to make a big mess of it. Do you have any complaints, Sasori?"

Sasori looked at Kaya before looking back at his leader.

"Well?" Pain said. "Don't tell me you're afraid to fight against a bunch of ninja?"

"Come on, Sasori," Kaya grinned. "This will be a big challenge. For me anyway. It sounds like fun."

Sasori took a deep breath. "I have no problems with it, Pain."

"Good," Pain smiled. "We leave for the village at noon tomorrow. Then when night arrives, we will invade the village and cause a lot of havoc. You should get some rest now. You'll need it."

Kaya was the first to get up and walk to her room. The others went to their rooms, but Sasori stayed, with Pain watching him.

"Is there a problem, Sasori?"

"I need to speak with you," he replied.

When Pain nodded, they went outside and walked through the forest until they reached a clearing with a small stream.

Pain turned to Sasori. "Well? What is it?"

"I......." Sasori looked at the ground.

"Speak, Sasori!" Pain growled.

"I don't think this is such a good idea," Sasori said at last. "I don't believe that Kaya is ready for such a challenge."

"She fought Orochimaru didn't she?" Pain growled. "I'm sure she can take on a few ninja from Konoha."

"It's not that she can't," Sasori murmured.

"Well then what is it?!" Pain said impatiently.

"I just don't think Kaya is ready to face what we will tomorrow. She isn't going to like it when we get there."

"Why is that?"

"Because......." Sasori breathed.

Pain stayed silent.

"Because she hasn't taken on so many ninja before," he said at last. "She might get scared and freeze up."

Pain sighed and put a hand on Sasori's shoulder. "Don't worry about her, Sasori. I know you two have been close since the day we found her, but she can handle this. I believe she is ready to face this challenge. She'll be okay, trust me."

Sasori sighed and nodded before following Pain back to the hideout.

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"Bark, bark!"

Katana opened her eyes and was faced with a white dog sniffing her face. She tried to move but realized she was being held. She looked at what was holding her and she froze, blinking at Kiba's arms that were hugging her.

"Uh... Kiba?"

In moments, Kiba opened his eyes and looked at Katana. "What?"

"Can you let me go so I can get up?"

"Uh.. yeah, sure," Kiba said quickly and let her go. She sat up and looked at Akamaru on Kiba's chest.

Katana looked out her window. "We'd better go. Kurenai will be waiting for us at the training field."

Kiba got up and Akamaru jumped on his head. "You're right."

Katana and Kiba jumped out the window and ran together out of the village gates and towards the training field.

"You're late," Kurenai said when they got there. Hinata and Shino were already there.

"Sorry, Kurenai-sensei," Katana breathed. "We just woke up and ran all the way here."

"Well you're going to be training really hard today," Kurenai said. "Four times harder than you usually do."

"What!?" Katana and the other three exclaimed.

"You heard me," Kurenai replied. "So you'll all have to push your bodies to the extreme, because I won't be going easy on you now. I'll fight you with all my strength."

"But you're a Jonin," Hinata said. "We can't possibly match your full strength."

"You'll have to try."

"Why do we have to train harder than we usually do?" Shino asked.

"Lord Hokage told me to," Kurenai answered. "I am not sure, myself. But orders are orders. Now, let's begin."

Kurenai got ready to fight, and so did the others.

"Are we fighting her together or separately?" Katana wondered.

"Fight me together," Kurenai replied.

Katana shrugged and ran for her sensei, before her friends were ready.

Katana jumped in the air and went to punch Kurenai but it was simply blocked. She touched the ground and went to kick her but Kurenai ducked. Katana grinned and went to punch her sensei, knowing she would land the blow. To her surprise, Kurenai was gone and her fist hit air.

"Katana look out!"

Katana spun around and Kurenai was right behind her with a kunai in her hands.

Katana jumped back and Kurenai jumped up and ran for her. Katana reached for a kunai from her leg but there was none, Kurenai had her kunai!

Kurenai came and Katana started to make and-signs.

BANG!

Katana stopped in her hand-signs and they dropped to her sides. Kiba was standing in front of her, his kunai blocking Kurenai's. "You really have to learn to work as a team," Kiba said, trying to push Kurenai away. "Otherwise you could end up in a terrible mess."

Katana sighed.

"Hinata, Shino!" Kiba called. "Come and help us out!"

Hinata and Shino ran over and all four of them were fighting against their sensei, every punch, kick or weapon was blocked or dodged.

By noon, Katana was exhausted. She crouched down on one knee and breathed, no one was able to hit Kurenai once. _So this is how strong she is_, she thought.

"How are we supposed to defeat you?!" Kiba growled. "You're too strong. We can't match yous strength!"

"Use your heads," Kurenai explained. "Think. There is a way you can defeat me, but you just have to work it out."

Katana tried to think, but she was so frustrated because she wasn't able to land a single punch or kick. She ran through her friends attacks in her mind, Hinata had the Byakugan, Shino had his bugs, which creeped her out, Kiba could fight with Akamaru and she had her Water Dragon Jutsu, and her Invisibility Jutsu.

"I got it!" Katana shouted and her teammates looked at her. Katana looked back at them. "Shino, use your bugs and trap Kurenai-sensei. Hinata, use your Byakugan to help you hit the Chakra points on her. Kiba, you and Akamaru use one of your Jutsu's. We might just be able to defeat her."

Her teammates blinked at her, as if they were that shocked that she came up with an idea.

"That could work," Kiba said.

"Well then let's do it," Hinata smiled.

Shino nodded and made hand-signs. "Bug Clone Jutsu!"

Katana tried not to hide behind Kiba as bugs came out of Shino's shirt and multiplied. She watched them go after Kurenai, who was now trying to dodge out of their way and avoid being caught.

The bugs quickly managed to grab Kurenai and the Jonin was desperately trying to escape.

"Alright, Hinata," Katana said. "Your turn."

Hinata made a hand-sign. The veins around her eyes popped out and she ran for Kurenai, her hands shining with blue Chakra. She then started trying to hit the Chakra points on her sensei. Kurenai managed to free an arm and block a few hits but Hinata was able to hit her sensei.

Kiba smiled. "Now we're getting somewhere!"

"Your turn, Kiba," Katana smiled.

Kiba nodded to her and started making hand-signs. "Akamaru, I'll need your help."

Akamaru looked at Kiba and stood beside him. Kiba finished his hand-sign. "Beast Clone Jutsu!"

Katana smiled, she knew this Jutsu. He had used it against Hinata when they had trained one day.

Suddenly, Akamaru turned into Kiba. There was now two Kiba's.

Kurenai looked at them, the two Kiba's were making growling noises, so she wasn't able to tell which was the real Kiba and which was Akamaru.

They looked at Katana. When she nodded, they jumped into the air and started spinning, they looked like gray cocoons and they flew at Kurenai.

"Hinata, move out of the way!" Shino called and Hinata did as she was told. Then, the two Kiba's hit Kurenai full on. She cringed in pain and was thrown away, towards the water. She hit the ground near the bank and Katana smiled.

"My turn," she murmured. She started making hand-signs. "Invisibility Jutsu!"

Katana suddenly disappeared, and she ran towards the water, unseen and probably unheard.

She came behind her sensei, preparing to strike but Kurenai struck first. Hitting Katana in the stomach and throwing her into the water. Katana became visible again. _She must have heard me_, she thought. _Damn it_!

Kurenai laughed and Katana continued to sink to the bottom of the water. "You're weak, Katana. What have you been doing all this time?" she said.

Katana growled. _Weak_!? She thought with outrage.

"Maybe if you trained more, rather than stuff around with Kiba, you might have been able to defeat me," Kurenai continued.

Katana gently touched the bottom of the water.

"At this rate," Kurenai laughed. "You'll never be as strong as you say you will. You're a joke. Why don't you go back to the Academy and start all over. You're more weak than a bird."

Katana clenched her fists. She was running out of air, but she was furious. _I'll show you who's the weak one_!!!!!! She thought and she quickly started making hand-signs.

"More weak attacks?" Kurenai laughed. "You won't hurt me."

_Oh yeah_? Katana thought. _Try this on for size. Shadow Dragon Jutsu_!

Katana smiled as her body changed. She grew a long tail with an arrow kind of thing at the end, large wings, and her teeth were pointy, sharp fangs. She came out of her little ball and flew out of the water. She landed on the ground in front of her sensei, roaring loudly.

Kurenai looked up at her student, who was now three times bigger than a full grown grizzly bear.

Katana looked down at Kurenai, her black scales shining in the sunlight with the water droplets dripping from them. Her red eyes flashed and she opened her mouth. "Calling me weak was a big mistake. You wanted to see my full power, you'll get it!"

Kurenai blinked as she saw fire forming in Katana's mouth.

Kiba was frozen, frozen with fear. Katana was a dragon, a _huge_ dragon, and she was mad. This didn't look good. Akamaru was shaking and he jumped up and crawled into Kiba's jacket, popping his head out at the top.

Hinata stepped back and stood with Shino. Shino's bugs quickly retreated into his jacket.

Katana built up the fire burning in her belly and let it out. It smashed against the ground, throwing dirt and bits of earth out of the way. Kurenai just managed to dodge out of the way to avoid serious injuries. The fire disappeared and a giant crater was left in the ground, Kurenai beside it.

"Katana! What are you doing!?" Shino called.

"Proving to her that I'm not weak," Katana growled and went to blow out another fire ball.

Kiba's heart was pounding a million miles an hour. What could he do to stop her? She was mad, and there was no way to stop her when she was mad.

He finally found his feet and clenched his fists. "Katana!" he yelled. "That's enough!"

"Stay out of this Kiba!" Katana growled.

"Kurenai-sensei was only joking around to get you to show her how strong you were!" Kiba growled back. "You've shown her, now give it a rest! Otherwise you might end up killing your own sensei in your outrage!"

Katana looked right at him, making him freeze up again, thinking she would attack him instead.

The fire in Katana's mouth disappeared and she calmed down. Smoke rose up and Kiba and the others had to cover their eyes from it. When it disappeared, Kiba opened his eyes and moved his arm away from his face. He looked at Katana, lying on the ground, unconscious.

He sighed and walked over to her, picking her up in his arms. Kurenai stood up and walked over. She looked down at Katana. "I'm sorry, Katana. I didn't mean to cause such a stir, I didn't know how angry you got when you were called weak."

Katana suddenly opened her eyes and smiled. "I know. I'm sorry, Kurenai-sensei. I didn't mean to get so angry. It won't happen again. I promise."

Kurenai smiled. "Let's just get you back to the village. You're exhausted. You all are."

Hinata and Shino joined them and they started walking back to the village together. Katana rested her head on Kiba's shoulder and fell asleep.

#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#

Kaya looked up at the sky, the sun was half way into disappearing before night took over.

She was walking in circles as she and the others had to wait until night came and nearly everyone was asleep.

"Calm down, Kaya!" Itachi murmured. "Don't use up all your energy before this attack even starts!"

"Sorry, Itachi," Kaya murmured, looking down at the village from the hill they were waiting at. She looked over at Sasori. "What's the matter with you?" she asked him. "You've been edgy ever since last night."

Sasori looked at her. "Nothing. Everything's fine."

Kaya cocked an eyebrow at him but shrugged. "Pain, can we go now?"

"No," Pain replied. "We wait ten minutes after the sun disappears before we invade."

"Why?" Kaya asked. "Everyone's gonna be awake when we attack anyway so what's the difference between now and later?"

"Just wait, Kaya," Pain growled and Kaya sat down with her legs and arms crossed and a stubborn look on her face.

She waited and waited until the sun was gone and five minutes past. "Can we go now?" she asked.

"Wait five more minutes!" Pain said.

"But I'm sick of waiting!" Kaya grumbled. "I wanna go now!"

Pain hit his head with his hand. "Do you even remember what to do?"

"Of course I do," she smiled. "I get to be the one who threatens a villager and he yells out and I get to kill him."

"That's not the plan this time," Deidara spoke. "The plan is to attack the guards and head straight for the Hokage's building, making a few villager kills along the way. That's where all the ninja will go so we can take them out quickly and then cause havoc undisturbed."

".................. oh," Kaya said. "Nobody told me that," she put the stubborn look back on her face, making Deidara laugh a little.

"But Kaya, don't forget to be careful," Hidan advised. "You'll be fighting Jonin and Chunin ninja, maybe even Genin. It will be tough for you because you don't know their strengths and weaknesses."

Kaya nodded. "I know. But I have to try at least."

Deidara nodded.

"Okay," Pain said. "Let's go."

Kaya jumped right up and the Akatsuki ran down the hill and stopped near the gates. Watching the two ninja on guard.

"Alright. Konan, Kakuzu and Zetsu, you three make villager kills along the way to the Hokage's building," Pain whispered. "The rest of you, follow me straight to our destination."

They all nodded and ran forward. Hidan and Itachi attacked the ninja guards and threw them out of the way and they all ran into the village. Kaya ran alongside Pain and Itachi, in between them.

They ran through the village, hearing screams as Konan, Kakuzu and Zetsu made their pit-stops.

Up ahead, Kaya noticed people standing in front of a huge building which seemed to be the Hokage's building. She looked at all the ninja, a bunch of ninja around her age were standing at the front, Kaya couldn't see them properly.

"Slow down," Pain said and they did. They got closer and closer to the building. "And stop."

The Akatsuki stopped and the three members caught up, blood staining their cloaks.

Kaya looked at the ninja around her age and she stood frozen, her heart skipped a beat, and her blood ran cold. Colder than a frozen river in the middle of winter.


	12. Chapter 12

Katana was standing in front of the Jonin ninja with Kiba on one side of her, and Naruto on her other side. Sasuke was next to Naruto, Sakura next to Sasuke. Ino next to Sakura and Hinata next to Ino. Shino was next to Kiba, Shikamaru was next to Shino, Choji was next to Shikamaru, Tenten was next to Choji, Neji was next to Tenten and Rock Lee was next to Neji.

Katana looked at the group of people that had invaded her village. They all wore black cloaks with red symbols on it. She looked at one guy with red hair and she froze. _WHAT_!? She thought. _But that's_..... Her eyes crossed over a girl around her own age, with long black flowing hair, wearing the same cloak as everybody else. _Oh my gosh_!

"It's the Akatsuki," she heard Kakashi say, who was standing behind her.

"But the Akatsuki are criminals that attacked the Ryoku village!" Katana exclaimed, looking back at the girl.

"I know," Kakashi said. "And they're here to attack this village."

"Then what's Kaya doing with them!?" Katana said, pointing to her sister standing in between an orange-haired guy and a guy with long black hair in a ponytail.

Her friends' eyes widened and they all looked at Kaya, who was standing confidently within the two older guys.

Kaya looked at Katana. "Konohagakure is the Leaf Village?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes," Pain said. "Not frightened of these ninja are you?"

"No, it's just that......." Kaya looked at them. "I can't fight my friends!"

"Your _**friends**_!?!?!?!?!?" Pain turned to her and she flinched.

"I didn't know," Kaya said. "But....."

"But what!?" Pain growled. "You made friends with village ninja?!"

"... But Pain," Kaya looked at Katana. "One of them..... is my sister."

Pain's eyes widened and he looked at the girl who looked like Kaya.

"I'm sorry, Pain," Kaya murmured. "I didn't think I was doing any harm. I am still loyal to the Akatsuki."

Pain growled a little. "Prove it."

Kaya felt like her heart was being torn. She had to fight her friends to prove her loyalty to the Akatsuki, who had raised her and trained her for eight years.

"Kaya!"

Kaya looked at her sister, Katana.

"I thought you weren't a criminal."

"I had to make up some sort of story," Kaya replied. "That was the only cover up I had."

"So you lied," Katana growled. "You lied!"

Kaya dropped her head.

"I want to know, Kaya," Katana growled. "And this time, I want the truth. Why are you with the Akatsuki?"

Kaya hesitated and a short moment passed, but it seemed like hours. She took a deep breath and looked up at her sister. "These are the S-ranked ninja that took me in all those years ago."

Katana's fists clenched. "So..... the Ryoku village....."

"Yes, Katana, I helped attack that village," Kaya's eyes locked with Katana's and Kaya heard the gasps of her other village ninja friends.

"You've been lying this whole time!" Katana yelled. "So you're telling me, that as you were growing up, you were growing up to be a cold-hearted killer!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Their gaze didn't break and Kaya slowly nodded. "That's exactly right, Katana. I'm a killer."

Katana felt like she couldn't stand. All this time, her sister had been lying to her. And she believed it!

"Then why did you help us?" Sasuke asked. "With the village and all?"

Pain looked down at Kaya, who looked back at him. "I'll explain everything after tonight. I promise."

"You'd better," Pain growled.

Kaya nodded and looked back at Sasuke. "Because I wanted to fix things with Katana," Kaya looked back at her sister. "What I said to you was wrong. Blaming you for leaving me in the village was probably one of the coldest things I have ever done. But I was confused and nervous and shocked and maybe even scared. I wanted to help you so I could find the chance to fix things with you. Believe me, Katana. I really wanted to fix things."

Katana looked away from Kaya. "I don't know if I can believe a single word you say anymore. You're a liar. You're a coward!"

Kaya was struck. By shock and sudden sadness, and also anger. She despised being called a coward, she didn't care who said it. It was enough to get her blood boiling.

"And......" Katana growled. "You're the enemy."

"Oh yeah!" Kaya growled back, shocking Katana and her village friends, even the Akatsuki. "If I'm such a coward than what does that make you!? I'm alive aren't I? So why haven't you used your Kekkei Genkai yet? Scaredy cat!"

Katana's eyes flashed with anger. "I don't need to use it. I can fight you without it!"

Kaya smiled evilly, which wasn't a good thing. "Show me what you got!"

Pain looked at the Akatsuki. "Time to attack these ninja before we hit the rest of the village."

The Akatsuki nodded and ran forward. The village ninja mirrored them and soon, everyone was fighting someone. Kaya and Katana were just standing there, facing one another, their hair flowing with the wind.

"I'll show you who's the coward," Katana growled and ran forward. Kaya ran at her sister and their fight started. It began with Tai Jutsu, Kaya and Katana punched, kicked and blocked.

Kaya dodged out of the way of Katana's fist, crouching down. She shot up, headbutting Katana in the stomach, sending her flying up and away.

Kaya smiled and Katana hit the ground. Kaya started making hand-signs. "Fire style, Twin Fire Dragon Jutsu!"

Katana jumped up and started making her own hand-signs, but suddenly realized; There was no water around!

Fire came out of Kaya's mouth and flew at Katana, forming the shape of a dragon. Katana jumped up, dodging it but to her shock, she was hit from behind by a second fire dragon. She hit the ground on her stomach in front of Kaya's feet.

"What's the matter, Katana?" Kaya asked. "Can't you beat me?"

"What happened to the Kaya I used to know?" Katana murmured, struggling to her hands and knees. "As kids you were so kind and loyal. You were prepared to die to protect me against the Tiger beast. And now we're fighting one another."

"I am loyal," Kaya growled. "I'm loyal to the people who took me in instead of leaving me to die. The Akatsuki raised me and trained me. I obey my leader. Yes I may be a criminal, but that's how I grew up."

"If the tiger didn't destroy our Clan you would have been different," Katana said, looking up at her sister. "But because of the stupid Akatsuki, you were raised with a lust for blood. You're a killer and a criminal, and now you're here to attack my village. I will stop you no matter what!"

Katana jumped up and punched Kaya in the face, throwing her into a small cart.

Kaya cringed and stood up, the cart was destroyed and fruit and vegetables were scattered everywhere. "You can try," she smiled. "But we will succeed in this attack. You will not stop us."

"Don't count on it!" Katana growled and started making hand-signs.

Kaya watched the first hand-signs and her eyes widened. _That's the Jutsu mother taught her! Very well, if this is how she wants to play it, I'll throw it right back at her_! Kaya started making her own hand-signs.

They finished their hand-signs at the same time.

"Shadow Dragon Jutsu!" Katana growled.

"Shadow Tiger Jutsu!" Kaya growled.

Their bodies curled up in a ball and they changed. They grew and grew and grew, changing shape and becoming different creatures. They came out of their little balls and glared at one another. They were now three times bigger than the highest building in Konoha.

"You look just like the tiger that destroyed our Clan," Katana growled. Kaya was a giant tiger, her fur orange with black stripes slashed across her.

"Pain taught me this Jutsu," Kaya purred. She looked down at all the ninja fighting, they were still fighting, not bothering to notice what was happening with Kaya and Katana. Kaya smiled and breathed deeply. She suddenly let out a huge roar that echoed all around the village. The ninja stopped and looked up at her with shock. Pain grinned.

"Katana! If you're gonna fight with that Jutsu, fight outside the village!" Kurenai shouted.

"Sorry!" Katana replied. "Come on, Kaya. We have a fight to finish."

Kaya nodded and watched her sister fly into the air and out of the village. Kaya ran out of the village, crushing a few things under her massive paws. She accidentally stepped on a villager. _Oh well_, she thought. _The pain wouldn't have lasted any longer than his last heartbeat_.

She jumped over the village wall and was suddenly knocked over by Katana. Her black scales shining in the moonlight and her white claws shone even brighter.

Kaya was scratched on the shoulder and blood rushed out. Kaya roared but lunged for Katana. Biting down on her arm, she put her ears to her head to block out the massive roar from Katana.

Katana ripped her arm free and Kaya shook the blood off of her muzzle, but still tasted it on her teeth.

Katana started making hand-signs, despite using a Jutsu already. "Fire style, Fireball Jutsu!"

Kaya was surprised and the fire singed her fur. She fell on her side and looked up at Katana with shining red eyes. Katana was standing right over her, laughing.

Kaya smiled and shot up, her claws slashing across Katana's stomach. When Katana was a fair distance away, Kaya jumped up on her hind legs and started making her own hand-signs. "Fire style, Fire Slashing Claws Jutsu!"

Katana looked up and her eyes widened when she saw four balls of fire that looked like claws racing towards her. She panicked when the fire disappeared and they were replaced with solid claws. They shone silver and struck, one in the gut, on in the arm, one in the leg and one scratched her cheek. Katana grabbed one of the claws and threw it back, it stabbed into Kaya's left arm.

Kaya roared when Katana slashed her claws across her right cheek.

Kaya burned with fury and she jumped up and bit Katana's shoulder.

Katana roared but suddenly, she started getting smaller and changing shape. In moments, Katana was herself again, her eyes closed, unmoving, and covered in blood.

Kaya changed back into herself and stood over the kunoichi. She just stood there. "I'm sorry, Katana. But this is what had to be done to stop you from getting in the way of the Akatsuki. I'm so sorry it had to come to this. I wish that this wasn't what had to happen, but I must stay loyal to the Akatsuki, just as you had to stay loyal to the Leaf Village. Sisters or not, we led different lives and were forced to fight one another."

Kaya turned away from Katana and ran back to the village with her lightning speed. She entered the village and ran normally around it, looking for the path that led to the Hokage's building so she could help her teammates.

She came across a villager, a man who was holding up an axe. She stopped running and looked at him. He ran at her with the axe held high, ready to slice her in two.

"Stupid villager," Kaya murmured and grabbed his arm before he could bring down the axe. He looked at her with fear and she tightened her grip on his arm, putting him in pain. He dropped the axe and she caught it with her other hand. He looked right into her eyes, which were shining with excitement as she raised her arm, let him go, and brought the axe down, slicing him in half.

Blood hit her left cheek and she looked down at the dead villager. "That was a bad idea."

She dropped the axe and ran through the village again, jumping up to a roof and running across rooftops. She stopped when she saw ninja fighting ninja. Sasori was fighting one of the Jonin, Pain was fighting a Jonin with silver spikey hair and a black mask covering his neck, mouth and nose. The Jonin had one red eye which Kaya knew as the Sharingan. But even though the Sharingan was able to track an opponents movements, Pain was stronger and faster, the Jonin's Sharingan couldn't track him. She recognized the Jonin as Kakashi.

Kaya noticed Itachi fighting a Genin. To Kaya's surprise, it was Sasuke!

Kaya jumped down, as loyal as she was, she couldn't let Itachi kill the guy that had encouraged her to fix things with Katana and helped her throughout the rebuilding of the Ryoku village!

She was about to reach Itachi and Sasuke but someone got in her way. She looked at the Genin that was facing her and she recognized Kiba. "Where's Katana?!" he growled.

Kaya took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Kiba-"

"Where is she!?" Kiba snarled and grabbed Kaya by the shirt, holding her in the air. "What did you do to her!?"

Kaya blinked at him and held back a few tears as she remembered what she had done. "Kiba, Katana is.........."

"Katana is what!?"

"Katana is dead," Kaya murmured so only he could hear her.

Kiba's body felt like it just shut down, as if his life was over. His hand let go of Kaya and she landed on her feet. Kiba stumbled back a step, his eyes full of fear and grief. "You....... you killed your own sister....."

Kaya held back her tears and stood straight. "I had to do it, because my dream is to become a strong ninja like the rest of the Akatsuki. And this is what I have to do to achieve my dream."

Kiba's eyes changed from grief struck to the gaze of pure fury. "So you killed you kin because she was in the way of making your dream come true..."

"It couldn't be helped," Kaya replied.

Kiba clenched his fists. "You cold-hearted traitor!"

Kaya was struck by not only his words, but by his fist. She took a few steps back and had to continuously block Kiba's attacks. Punches, kicks, she had to block them all. Kiba showed no sign of tiredness, he was just really mad.

Kaya was suddenly bit on the leg and she looked down at Kiba's dog, Akamaru. While she was distracted, Akamaru let her go and Kiba punched her in the face, throwing her twenty metres away.

Kaya stumbled to her feet and saw Kiba running at her.

"This is for Katana!" he snarled. "Because she also had a dream!"

Kaya watched him running at her, he was so fast. He was right in front of her and his fist hit her in the stomach. She cringed and he kneed her in the face to make her stand up straight and he did a back flip, kicking her chin up and sending her flying backwards. Her back hit a brick wall and she went into it. A small cave was made in the wall with Kaya in it, bricks fell from the roof and Kaya stood up, struggling.

Kiba ran at her again but Kaya had had enough of fighting him. She got out of the cave and used her lightning speed to evade him, running through the crowd of fighting ninja and she stopped, looking at Itachi fighting Sasuke again. Itachi had an advantage because he was a lot stronger than the Genin. Blood was dripping out of Sasuke's mouth and Itachi punched him in the gut and kneed him in the head.

Kaya didn't want Itachi to kill Sasuke. She took a deep breath, what she was about to do was a stupid idea, but it was the only way to stop Sasuke from getting killed. She would have to stop Itachi.

She ran towards the two ninja fighting, ready to stop a fellow Akatsuki member. Suddenly, something hit her like an explosion from the air and she was on her back, pinned down with someone sitting on her stomach.

Kaya looked at her next opponent and her eyes widened.

"I won't let you try and kill Sasuke to."

"But.. I-I thought......"

Kaya was grabbed by the throat. "You thought what?"

"I thought I killed you."

"I can't be killed that easily," Katana growled with an evil smile. "You only knocked me unconscious."

"Okay, fair enough. But I wasn't going to attack Sasuke-"

"Then what were you doing?" Katana asked, tightening her grip on her throat.

"I was going to help him."

"That's a load of trash and you know it!" Katana growled. "You're supposed to be 'loyal' to the Akatsuki. You wouldn't help Sasuke, you even tried to kill me, your own sister, your only remaining kin!"

Kaya shook her head and grabbed Katana's knee, throwing her off of her and standing up. She was about to go and help Sasuke again but Katana got in her way. Kaya was getting frustrated but realized that Sasuke was now getting a few punches in, hitting Itachi a few times.

"Leave Sasuke to fight his brother," Katana hissed.

"His _**brother**_!?!?!?!"

Katana smiled. "I thought you knew. Now, let's finish our fight!"

Kaya dodged a punch and the fight started up again. Punches and kicks were thrown and struck. Kaya and Katana hit and blocked. After a while, they were getting tired. They began using Jutsu's, which exhausted them even further.

They broke apart, jumping away and landing at least 100 metres away from each other.

_I can't go on much longer_, Kaya thought.

_We're both exhausted_, Katana thought.

_I can't believe I'm about to do this. But this is it, I have to end this now_! They both thought.

Their arms came up and they started making hand-sings, their eyes closed, focusing.

They finished making hand-signs. They put their right hand over their left lower arm to support it and a ball of Chakra formed in their hands. The Chakra was so strong for both of them it was visible. Katana's was green/blue/aqua, and Kaya's was whitish blue with lightning flowing all around it, making the loud crackling sound of thunder.

All the ninja stopped fighting and looked at them as they all felt the power of their Chakra. Pain looked at Kaya. _What kind of power is this_!? He thought. _How can her Chakra be this strong_?! He suddenly remembered something, on the day he first met the black-haired kunoichi.

"_But how could you fight the tiger and hope to win_?" Pain asked her.

Kaya looked at him. "_Like my sister I also have a special Jutsu. My mother said it would be very powerful when I grew up_," she replied, sounding like she was older than she was. "_But my Jutsu failed when the tigers' eyes met with mine, I don't know why_."

Pain nodded. "_She sounds like she could be a useful aspect to the Akatsuki, by the way she spoke_."

"_Sounds to me as if she has a Kekkei Genkai_," said Deidara.

"_Yeah_," Pain sighed. "_And one day we'll find out what that power is_."

Pain's eyes widened. _Could this be her Kekkei Genkai_!?

Kaya smiled at Katana. "Finally brave enough to use your Kekkei Genkai are you?"

"What about you?" Katana bit back. "You've never used your Kekkei Genkai before, and you're going to use it now."

Pain's eyes widened again and every member of the Akatsuki was pretty much the same, stunned, curious and nervous.

Kaya growled.

"This is the only way to stop you, Kaya," Katana said. "To put an end to your murderous ways."

Kaya felt more anger burn within her and her Chakra was getting stronger, and bigger. It grew and grew to be the same size as her head. She let her left arm go and it dropped, holding the Chakra close to the ground. "Lightning Flame!" Kaya growled.

Katana growled back. "Armato Sumorata!"

Sasori's heart skipped a beat, this was the power Kaya had that the Akatsuki had _never_ seen!

"It's time to end this!" Kaya and Katana said at the same time and started running towards each other, their Chakra in the their left hands beside them. They used a little bit of their lightning speed inheritance and they rushed towards each other.

Kiba pushed past a ninja from his village and blinked. Katana was alive, but her situation didn't look good. "KATANA!"

"KAYA!" Kaya heard Sasuke's voice. She ignored it. If she was to get out of this alive, she would have to keep going. If she decided to forfeit, she would be dead before Katana could even slow down.

Lightning flowed all around her Chakra, the thunder getting louder.

Their feet pounded on the ground ten times a second. When they were nearly in each other's faces, they threw their left arms forward.

_**CCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRAAAAAAAASSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_


	13. Chapter 13

The two balls of Chakra collided and the thunder echoed louder than Kaya's roar earlier. Kaya felt her body starting to burn, caused by Katana's attack. But she knew that Katana would be feeling the lightning flowing around her body. Her sister would be in more pain than she was.

The energy created a huge ball around them and they could only see each other, everything else was blue and white, even the ground.

Both sisters were in a great deal of pain, but their eyes locked together. Images flashed in their minds, of being kids and playing together. Kaya and her sister always used to play Rough and Tumble or Stick Fights. Everytime that Kaya won, Katana would tackle her and sit on her back so she couldn't get up. But that was all before the Triple-Tailed Tiger came and destroyed their village and killed every member of their Clan. They had such a strong bond back then, but growing up separately had set them apart. Katana was a strong, good ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village now, and Kaya was a murderous criminal with the Akatsuki. Their different lives caused them to fight against each other in hopes of killing one another.

"W-w-what h-happened to us?" Kaya asked, clenching her teeth because of her pain.

Her question was left unanswered as the blue and white ball of energy exploded and they were thrown away from each other.

Kaya hit the ground in front of some village ninja, her body was covered in blood and dirt and she couldn't get up, she was so weak that her body wouldn't move. Katana was the same. Kiba ran over to her.

"Kaya!"

She just managed to turn her head and look at Sasuke, who was crouched next to her with a really worried expression.

"S-Sasuke," Kaya murmured. "I'm so sorry for lying.... I never thought it would come to this......"

Sasuke looked at her. "It's okay, Kaya. I forgive you."

Kaya smiled but Sasuke looked up, stood up and backed away as the Akatsuki came over.

Pain crouched beside her. "You alright, kid?"

"I'm fine," Kaya murmured. "But, Pain?"

"Yeah?"

"I can't fight these ninja. They're my friends. And fighting my sister was already tearing my heart in two."

Pain's expression was blank, but then he smiled. "It's okay, kid. I understand. We're done here. And I'm very proud of you."

Pain helped Kaya to her feet and supported her. He looked at the rest of the Akatsuki. "Let's go."

Kaya looked over to Katana, she was standing on her own. She walked over to them with Kiba beside her. Katana didn't look mad, instead, she was smiling. "Good fight, Kaya."

"You too," Kaya replied, feeling her strength return. She stepped away from Pain and stood on her own. "I'm sorry this had to happen. We are going to leave now."

Katana nodded and Kaya turned and started to follow the Akatsuki out of the village. Katana watched them start to leave. Emotion swelled within her, she didn't want to see her sister go.

"Wait!"

The Akatsuki stopped and they all turned around. Kaya looked at Katana, who ran over to her.

"What's wrong, Katana?" Kaya asked her. Kaya saw Kakashi, Sasuke, Kiba, Sayuri, Neji, Naruto and even the Hokage himself, approach her and the Akatsuki.

"Kaya, why don't you stay here?" Katana asked. "You could train to become a great ninja, you could become really strong. Your name could even be known throughout the continent as a great, powerful and honorable ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Kaya looked at the Hokage, he nodded. "I have seen your strength. If you'd like, we could welcome you amongst our village."

Kaya looked over her shoulder at Pain and the rest of the Akatsuki. Pain sighed. "Kaya, if you want to stay here, you can. We won't judge you. This is your choice."

Kaya looked back to the village ninja. She looked at Sasuke, he looked nervous, same as the others.

"What do you say, Kaya?" Katana murmured. "Do you want to stay here with us?"

Kaya didn't know what to do. Katana was her only kin, and Sasuke and the others were really good friends that she had gotten to know really well during the rebuilding of the Ryoku village. But the Akatsuki had taken her in when she was five years old. They had raised her, and trained her to be as strong as she was now. She stood there, thinking.

She looked back at the Akatsuki, they were waiting anxiously. She looked back at the village ninja, who were looking hopeful.

Kaya took a deep breath and looked into Katana's ocean blue eyes. "Katana....."

Katana looked as if she was holding her breath.

"I'm sorry, but I can't."

Katana's eyes widened. "Why?"

Kaya smiled at her. "Katana, the Akatsuki raised me and trained me. I grew up and gained a lust for blood and I thrived on killing people and attacking villages. It's the only life I know. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't be the person I have been for the past eight years."

"But you could start again," Katana murmured, tears threatening to form in her eyes.

Kaya's heart felt like it was being shattered. "I'm sorry. But my life is with the Akatsuki, I will always be a cold-hearted killer, even if I tried to change that now."

Katana's head dropped.

Kaya took a step forward and put a hand on Katana's shoulder. "I can't stay here, I wouldn't be happy here. I'm happy with the Akatsuki, besides Konan, they're all like brothers to me. I don't know what I would do if they weren't there to back me up. But your place is here, with the village. You belong here. But I have to go. Our lives lead different paths."

Katana's head came back up, tears running down her face. "Okay. I can see that this is what you truly want. But.... will I ever see you again?"

Kaya smiled. "Of course you will."

Katana smiled back, but Kaya knew it was forced. She took her hand back and looked at all her village friends. "See you round, guys."

They nodded, but Sasuke stood in front of Kaya. "Kaya, I......."

Kaya blinked at him. "Yeah?"

"Ever since the day I met you, I......"

"Just tell me already," Kaya laughed but Sasuke put one hand on her shoulder and another on her cheek. He leaned down and Kaya's muscles tensed up as his lips connected with hers. Kaya didn't realize he had feelings for her, she never would have guessed. She kissed him back and after a few seconds, they broke apart.

"Good-bye, Kaya," Sasuke whispered. "I love you."

"I love you to, Sasuke," Kaya whispered back.

Sasuke stepped back and Kaya nodded to Katana. "Good-bye, Katana. I'll see you again some day."

Katana nodded and Kaya looked at Sasuke before turning and following the Akatsuki out of the village. Kaya knew she would come back to the Hidden Leaf Village to visit her friends, but she couldn't turn her back on killing and attacking villages. It was her way of life. She looked over her shoulder, Kiba was hugging Katana. _I'll be back_, she thought. _I promise_. Sasori put a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. He smiled at her and she smiled back. He then pulled her into a side hug, comforting her.

_Katana, you're my sister_, she thought. _My only surviving kin, I haven't turned my back on you, but I have to go a separate way. I'm a criminal and you're a village ninja. And that's how is has to be from now on until the day we die. I'm the Akatsuki warrior, and you're the Leaf Village warrior. Thank you, for everything_.


End file.
